Reincarnation
by D3wman
Summary: Rei Shimura wasn't always a ninja. Nor was Rei always Danzo's granddaughter. Rei never intended to be those once upon a time, but perhaps the gods above think otherwise. Reincarnated pseudo SI-OC.
1. Rei 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuuden, Boruto, or any other associated releases. These are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Shonen Jump. Please support the official release.**

* * *

Funny thing, isn't it?

Life, I mean.

I had thought my life was going pretty well. For once, everything seemed to be going well for me - I was well on the way to graduating high school, had a pretty good ride to college, was pretty popular with everyone else, had no enemies in particular, and to top it all off, I was working up the guts to ask a girl out.

And then some asshole in a truck wasn't watching where they were going.

Ain't that a bitch.

"Every end is a new beginning."

It was a common saying in my family. It'd come up whenever someone in the family had died. I wasn't particularly religious, but the rest of the family was. Despite this, we didn't really fight about it.

They were cool like that.

Some religions prescribed that after you died, there was an afterlife. Depending on how well you did, you'd go to Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, or whatever other afterlives there are.

I know Hindus believed in reincarnation - depending on how good or bad a person you were, you might be reborn as a prince, or perhaps a snail.

Evidently the Hindus had something right.

When I saw the light, I tried to reach for it, only to find my arm unresponsive. Hang on, were you supposed to reach for the light? I remember there was some guy who came back to life and mentioned he went away from the light.

My legs weren't responding anyway.

I guess I had no choice whether I was going toward the light or not.

I don't remember much about the rebirth process, thankfully. Miracle of life my ass, it's not fun going through that sort of thing.

I got a surprisingly clear look at the woman who gave birth to me. Asian features by the looks of it, black hair that only reached just past her ears, and dark green eyes. I guess this was my mom now? I dunno... it feels weird to call someone else 'mom' after spending eighteen years with calling someone else 'mom'.

I wonder if this is how it feels when your parents get divorced and one of them remarries?

Probably not.

She soon passed me off to a man who I assumed was my new father. Pitch black hair with, oddly enough, a ponytail past his shoulders, even though the rest of his hair was shorter than his wife's (?). My eyes peered into his blue eyes.

The two of them conversed for a bit. I think it was Japanese?

All I could tell was that their names were Ritsuko and Ryoji. And that my name was Rei.

Isn't that a girl's name?

All things considered, it seemed I was reborn to loving parents in a nice home, which was good news.

Once my parents returned home, they introduced me to a couple more people, who I suspected were family members and friends as well.

There were varying brunettes and blackettes (there's gotta be a better word) in the crowd, and even a redhead. Things were going well until my mother passed me to one person in particular.

An old man, wrinkles evident in his face. Black hair adorning his head. A scar marking his chin. Bandages present that covered his right eye.

Danzo Shimura - the Konoha elder who masterminded the Uchiha Massacre. The man loyal to Konoha who's actions created almost all of the Naruto series villains.

Fuck.

My mother called him Tou-san.

 _Fuck._

I'd say something about Konoha being probably the safest place in the Naruto world to be reincarnated to, but Danzo goddamn Shimura is at my baby shower. The guy kidnaps kids and inducts them into the worst ninja school ever.

Lord knows I can't count on the Hokage to do anything - Hiruzen was content to let it happen and Minato was Hokage for what, 5 weeks?

Alright, if I'm Danzo's grandkid, then that probably means I'm in Konohamaru's generation, right, give or take a year? Then again, this sort of situation tends to put people in Naruto's generation, right? At least, that's how it was in the fanfics I read, but if I'm turning to fanfics for life advice, then I'm already fucked.

Well, I know the future. What can I do about the Uchiha Massacre? What about the Akatsuki, or Orochimaru's invasion, or the next world war?

Could I prevent these?

Yeah, probably not.

But I oughtta stick around and try to make things better.

* * *

The first 2 months of my life sucked.

Apparently, babies in the Naruto world weren't born with their chakra systems fully in place. As a result, my chakra system wasn't done growing (forming? I didn't know the right word). I imagine Naruto-verse babies didn't feel much of that, having no reference of a world without chakra.

I, on the other hand, had spent a lifetime in a world without bullshit magic, and I guess my nerves retained adult sensitivity? Fuck if I know.

Essentially, I felt everything about my chakra system growing/forming in. So, I was constantly feeling pain, which led to me crying because, well, how else is a baby gonna relieve stress. I also had trouble sleeping because, again, constant pain. And since I wasn't getting enough sleep, I was unhappy from that, too.

This continued for _two goddamned months_ before the pain settled down. After that, I could manipulate my chakra. I didn't do too much testing because as a baby I didn't have chakra to spare.

With that out of the way, there were several things I wanted to get out of the way.

Potty-training topped the list. Walking was a second priority, reading and talking third.

So I spent the next six months learning how to get mobile. Crawling was easy, walking was more awkward.

I guess I should've seen that coming, but if I was able to inherit my mind and apparently my nervous system (or at least sensitivity?); maybe I'd have motor control too.

Sadly not.

Reincarnation is bullshit. And confusing.

Still, I'd settled into a pattern: wake up, eat, try to walk, sometimes manipulate chakra a bit, nap, eat, and sleep.

Then came October. Fucking. October.

The fucking Kyuubi up and decided to show his face in Konoha and fuck everything up.

My father took me to the civilian shelters. I didn't cry. I couldn't cry, not when the Kyuubi's chakra was a physical force that practically strangled me.

He was a god. That was a fact. Nothing with that amount of chakra could be mortal. He was a god and he was pissed. His chakra was evil, he wanted humanity dead and he'd stop at nothing to see it happen.

And I was in the middle of it.

Eventually, he disappeared.

I looked up toward my father and saw worry turn into relief. I'd made it. He'd made it. I tried to say something.

"Pa," I declared. That'll do.

"Tasukatta," he said.

* * *

Good news from the Kyuubi attack: I was right about my hunch that I was in Naruto's generation. That actually puts me in a position to do things, in theory anyway. As far as I knew, there wasn't a Rei Shimura in the show. Whether it's because 'Rei' wasn't a reincarnate in canon, didn't exist in canon, or I did exist and ended up inducted to Danzo's funhouse, I didn't know.

Hopefully that third option wasn't happening.

Assuming my existence makes this a different universe from canon, what will the butterfly effect cause? I don't have a very totalistic view on the butterfly effect, but who knows what minor stuff might change.

If I want to make any big changes, I'm gonna need to get close to the big players of the future, which means someone else is getting fucked over.

Team 10 isn't gonna change. Ino-Shika-Cho is a tried and true team comp, barring some sort of unforeseen catastrophe, nothing will change there. Team 8 is a little more likely. Danzo had tried to get Shino in canon. If that succeeds, then there goes the original Team 8. Even if that became the case though, I doubt I had any sort of tracking ability, right?

Process of elimination means Team 7. Or maybe Team Gai if I graduate a year earlier, but Team 7 is probably a better position for such changes to take place. And that means replacing Sakura. The way I see it, Kakashi's training Sasuke no matter what happens and me having standards about my education means I'm not going to sandbag into bottom level. So, "top kunoichi" it is.

Damn it.

* * *

November came; I could walk now, thank god.

What did I look like? I knew we had a mirror in the house.

Obviously I was different. There was no way I looked the same way I did 'last time'.

Finding the mirror was easy enough. I looked in the mirror.

That's not me.

...

It is.

I looked in the mirror to see a girl's gaze looking back at me. We narrowed our eyes at the same time.

That girl - me - had black hair with a natural spikiness to it, as well as red highlights in it. The spikiness must've come from Danzo (I'm not calling him grandpa), but I'm not sure where the red came from. It seems I inherited my mother's eyes though, exact shade of green and all. My nose was smaller than before, thankfully. My ears seemed a little bigger than before though. I blame Danzo.

I turned my head and the reflection did so.

I couldn't deny that I was different now.

Reincarnation is bullshit.

* * *

Next up: learn Japanese!

Well, I knew a few words and stuff from spending my first life watching anime, and there are a couple things I learned through osmosis. But most of it, I need to learn myself. Well, not quite myself. I have parents; I can afford to ask them for help.

Reading! Fun little way of involving my family in this sort of thing.

Sometimes it was my mother, sometimes my father; occasionally it was Shinji, who I guess was my uncle or something. He'd show up sometimes if both parents were on missions. And rarely, it was old Danzo himself. And to his credit, he played the part of a kindly grandpa really well.

If I didn't know about his secret lair that he's not supposed to have, I'd be convinced.

I was sure that'd it'd one day start to get annoying with how much I was asking people to read stuff, but that day never came, strangely enough.

I wonder if I was this troublesome last time I was this age?

* * *

 **End Rei 1**

 _This is a bit of an old story idea of mine. Several years old in fact. Rei's knowledge of canon will reflect that. At the time of Rei's first death (and the time I originally came up with this idea), Naruto Shippuuden was still going. Specifically, Madara was the big bad, the great ninja war was ongoing, Tobi wasn't revealed as Obito, and Kaguya, Asura, Indra, and the rest of that mess were all just thoughts in Kishimoto's head (presumably)._

 _Retroactive edit half a year later: So, it's worth mentioning that this chapter was originally two separate chapters that I combined because I thought it'd be better for story flow (why they were separate in the first place can be chalked up to early installment weirdness, I guess). Also features some improved writing._

 _12-18-2017 edit: big ol improvements to the fic because I wasn't satisfied. Also that bit of Japanese from Rei's dad's gonna be a one off thing._

 _One important thing about this fanfic is that canon doesn't give much information about the Shimura clan specifically. As such, a lot of the information about the Shimura clan will be headcanons based off of what little we do know about the Shimura clan as well as the large amount of stuff we know about Danzo. In addition, Rei's family (aside from Danzo) will all be OCs. That's what happens when there's only one canon member of an apparently note-worthy clan. Thanks Kishimoto._

 _Finally, here's an Index of Chapters. As the fic progresses, this list may get spoilery, so you have been warned._

 ** _Childhood Arc (Parts 1-9)_**

 _1: Rei 1  
2: Rei 2  
3: Rei 3  
4: Shinji 1  
5: Danzo 1  
6: Rei 4  
8: Shinji 2  
9: Rei 5  
_

 ** _Early Ninjahood/Land of Waves Arc (Part 9 - Part 14)_**

 _10: Rei 6  
11: Rei 7  
12: Rei 8  
13: Rei 9  
14: Rei 10  
_


	2. Rei 2

_I will note that Dreaming of Sunshine is a great fanfic and is an inspiration to me. In addition, a large portion of the childhood arc is inspired by DoS.  
_

 _I don't intend for the entire fanfic to be_

 _12-18-2017: Chapter improved quite a bit._

 **Begin Rei 2  
**

* * *

The Shimura clan was a ninja clan. In fact, they had been one since long before Konoha was founded. But ever since Konoha was founded, the clan had shrunk. There were a few people who were Shimura by blood but had married out of the clan for one reason or another, though not to the same extent as the Senju, who had almost totally intermarried with the general population, but certainly more so than most of the great ninja clans.

Of course, the world wars had been harsh to the Shimuras as well.

As far as the Shimura clan was concerned, there was Danzo, my parents, Shinji (who I'd learned was my second cousin), and several people who had married out of the clan.

This is where I get into Konoha Clan Politics. Back when it was founded, Konohagakure had agreed with the clans that Internal Clan Affairs would remain Internal Clan Affairs. Hence for example, anything that happened in the Uchiha clan was just the business of the Uchiha clan. This also explained why the Hyuuga's seal nonsense was still going on - Hyuuga Clan Affairs. Marrying into a clan would give you the rights that a clan member would possess, so if you married into the Nara clan, any beef between you and Shikaku Nara is now Nara Clan Affairs, strictly speaking, but you also gained access to the Nara support network (this is all in theory, of course). This also worked in reverse, so if you married out of the Hyuuga clan and married some random Jane and took her last name, you legally left the Hyuuga clan and so any beef between you and Hiashi was no longer Internal Clan Affairs and thus involved Konoha's legal department, possibly up to and including the Hokage. I imagine this lead to a stigma against this sort of thing. Marrying out of the clan is how the Senju clan stopped being a thing. They all intermarried with Konoha, since the city was effectively the clan's baby, if you will.

Mind, this is a little simplified, but still.

As far as I know, there wasn't any way for a clan to lose their status as a clan, but it was possible for a family to legally become a clan. That's what the Hatakes did, after all.

The Shimura clan had heavily embraced loyalty to Konoha, and even Shinji, for all his disagreements with Danzo (I had heard them arguing on occasion), could agree on that.

Shimuras, as a clan, lacked a Kekkei Genkei. We had nothing like the Uchiha's Sharingan, the Senju's Mokuton, the Hyuuga's Byakugan (I wonder if this is why Danzo is... like That. Maybe he's compensating?). Compared to them, the Shimura had a tendency for larger than average chakra supplies. We, however, also held powerful wind style techniques as well as a summoning contract for Tapirs. In spite of our lack of Kekkei Genkei, our clan had been a big deal in the warring clan's era.

What did all this Shimura clan stuff mean? Well, it meant that I'd probably be a ninja one day.

So when the day came of the Academy's beginning, well, it only made sense that I'd go. Typically, one or both of your parents would be present as well.

Apparently though, Danzo decided his presence was needed. He was far from a constant face in my childhood - my parents would say he was a busy man, which made sense in a way. Between being the Shimura clan head, having a position on the Konoha Council, and secretly being Head of a supposed to be defunct organization, he had a lot on his plate.

Perhaps I should worry about ROOT later. I _think_ I've surpassed the age threshold of being inducted to 'Danzo's funhouse'?

"Rei, are you ready?" My mother shouted from outside my room. Right, first day of school, would look bad if I was late.

"Just another moment," I replied. I took stock of my supplies. All in all, it was distinctly similar to early school back in the first life -textbooks, pencils, erasers, extra paper, all that stuff - except here I was learning to be a child soldier. Lovely.

Once I had my things prepared, I exited my room and found my parents waiting for me.

"Grandfather will be waiting for us at the academy, let's go," Mom stated. With that, we began our trip to the Academy.

Clan politics aside, my parents had quite the get-together story. Back in the war, they'd been deployed to the same front over with Iwa. They'd met, Mom saved Dad's life from some explosive release guy, they became friends, Dad had wondered how it was he ended befriending a lovely lady from the clan, and they ended up starting a relationship. They also met Minato at some point (although Mom always said the story got a little more embellished every time it was told, so I had my doubts - Hiruzen being at the wedding seemed more plausible though).

We arrived at the Academy about 20 minutes later. Though it was still quite early, a crowd was already beginning to form. Looking around, I saw some familiar faces: Sasuke with (to my surprise) his father (not his brother?), Neji with a man I assumed to be a branch clan member, a strangely stone-faced Ino with her parents, Naruto standing next to the 3rd Hokage, and of course, Danzo. I noticed my mother walk over to have a discussion of some sort with him. That's not my target though.

Naruto was the person I wanted to talk to the most. Literally anyone else would require a more delicate touch, which was something I never had much of - I was never great with people. With the Hokage standing with Naruto, any possibility of incidents happening was essentially non-existent. So I walked over.

"Uh, hi," I said to Naruto.

"Hi there!" he excitedly replied.

"A friend of yours, Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen interjected.

"Uh, n-no?" I responded.

"Not yet!" Naruto replied more enthusiastically. I wish I had his optimism.

"I see. It's good to see these friendships being made," the Hokage said.

"Yeah, believe it!" Naruto half-yelled. Wow, the Hokage really does act like your grandpa. Naruto, meanwhile, was just as loud as I expected him to be. I knew that despite his volume and obliviousness, he'd become a great friend. It's just that no one in canon gave him the chance.

While it wasn't something that occurred in canon, I was aware of what could happen with a jinchuriki who was angry at the world - and I wanted to make sure I didn't butterfly that.

I mean, Gaara was only as bad because people were trying to kill him all the time. But then again, there were plenty of dark Naruto fics where people were trying to kill him all the time - I'd rather not have Naruto get to the same point Gaara did.

* * *

It was sometime later that we had to go separate paths, if only briefly. Fortunately for me though, I ended up in Iruka's class alongside Naruto, Sasuke, and the rest of the Rookie 9. If something else had changed then, I hadn't noticed.

I took a seat at the back of the class. Fun little bit of culture change: in my first life, being in the back of the class often gave the impression that you were a slacker or delinquent. Here though, it was the mark of being a good ninja - after all, you were reducing the opportunities someone had to attack you. Protect your back and all that.

It looked like the entirety of canon's Rookie 9 was here. Its weird how many clan heads there are in this class, though. Naruto took a side to my right; I guess making sure he was near his new friend. I think I was his only friend, at least his age.

Hmm, I think it's me and the Hokage. Wow.

Most of the first day was spent with the usual first day of school stuff: introductions, textbooks, rules and regulations, and so on. It was all very 'normal' for what amounted to a military academy.

Once the lunch bell rang, everyone began to leave the class, Iruka's statement that we had an hour for lunch barely heard. Lunch hours it seemed were divided into age groups, which meant you wouldn't have the fresh kids holding lunch at the same time as the almost graduates.

Once I'd gotten outside, I looked around. Kids being kids, mostly - playing games, talking with friends, two of them staring up into the sky, and Naruto. Alone.

Alright, so, Hiruzen had an idea: make the knowledge of who had the Fox an S-class secret, with the usual punishments for leaking the knowledge (death or life imprisonment) associated. A great idea in theory, as long as maybe five people knew. If it'd been Kakashi, Hiruzen, and Jiraiya, that'd have been fine - it's like that Ben Franklin saying 'three can keep a secret if two are dead', grim it may be, but keep the amount of people who know low.

In canon and in this universe, every single adult somehow knew. I don't know if it was some sort of proclamation or if Hiruzen had told some trusted official who wasn't so trustworthy, but whatever happened happened and now everyone knows. Even the kids who don't know that Naruto has the fox still know to avoid him because their parents avoid him and children tend to get their habits from their parents/guardians.

"Hey Rei, let's play ninja!" He asked. I was, essentially, his only friend. Fuck yeah I'll play ninja.

* * *

After lunch/recess came taijutsu class. This turned out, for all intents and purposes, to be gym class. I'd never been a fan of gym. Actually I'd hated it, to be honest. I'd only taken it because it was required in high school and I'd have been perfectly content to skip it.

Yet, even on day 1, it had a higher work load than my High School gym class ever had. Now that's bullshit.

It was about midway through my 7th lap (out of 20 are you kidding) around the track, in between thoughts of 'please end this misery' that I realized something: chakra can be used to increase one's physical capabilities. I guess it was something the back of my mind decided to put up front.

Thank god I recalled that.

Eventually, Taijutsu class (AKA torture) ended, and we were out for the day. I quickly found my mother and we began our trip home.

"Did you enjoy your first day?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did," I replied.

"I noticed you made a friend," she mentioned, her tone taking on a tone that sounded almost... jovial?

"Yeah, Naruto," I responded, before continuing to another train of thought, "People seem to avoid him though."

"People have their reasons, Rei. Just make your own judgements," she advised.

"What do you think of him, mother?"

"I think he's a troublemaker, but he's not unique in that regard."

"Hmm," was all I could say. Evidently my mother, unlike every other adult in Konoha, had no problem with Naruto. I guess she got the memo that the Kyuubi was inside Naruto, not turned into him or something like that? Maybe she had the idea of not antagonizing the kid with a kaiju inside him.

I didn't have a high opinion of most Naruto-universe adults. Looks like I happened to be born to a pair of parents with good brains in their heads. Go me! Go mom and dad!

* * *

 **End Rei 2  
**

 _And so the Academy time begins proper._

 _Thanks for all the support so far, everyone!_

 _To respond to some reviews._

 _"This is a setup I don't see often (being related to Danzo), but it's a good one. You can't really sugarcoat the darker side of shinobi life with it either. Good job and I hope to be reading more soon." - soul of the kitsune._

 _I am intending to explore the darker points of the Naruto universe in the future._

 _"Love your story now following! . Please update soon! Can't wait for danzo to interact with her" - lizyeh2000_

 _Well, I suppose the inevitable discussion between the two has been put off for now. It will eventually happen though, of course._

 _"Look at the bright side... She won't need to be afraid of sleeping just to wake up in a root base(I guess)...and even if she doens't want she will probably receive training from her father or grandpa(heh). Loved the chapter and can't wait to read the next one" - Warlord of Chaos_

 _Well, Rei's not gonna be inducted into Danzo's Funhouse. Danzo has his reasons for this._


	3. Rei 3

So, it's been a week since the Academy year started.

I decided it might be a nice idea to sign up for a special kunoichi class. Well, technically speaking, it was an infiltration course filled with numerous activities that were traditionally considered feminine (hence, 'Kunoichi class'), such as Ikebana, sewing, playing instruments, cooking (beyond the required standards), and so on and so forth. Despite this, it was open to all students, but was strictly optional.

Although this stuff wasn't really my thing, I signed up for it anyway because who knows when I might need this stuff? Besides, the idea of taking out Tobi with some flowers is too good to pass up.

Due to the infiltration class's mostly feminine activity focus, almost all the applicants were girls (again, 'kunoichi class'). In fact, every girl from my class was there, except for Hinata, who presumably had her own Hyuuga clan stuff for this sort of thing.

Actually, one of the guys from my class is here too. I don't know him, but I definitely recognize his face.

Let's talk to him.

"Hi there," I said, trying to be as casual as possible.

"Heya," he replied.

"I'm surprised you're in this class."

"You, the other girls, and my mother. Guess I don't got the look of someone who can do Ikebana. A shame."

"Just a bit surprising, that's all," I mentioned.

"I guess," he shrugged, "so you're from a ninja clan?"

"Yeah, the Shimuras," I supplied.

"Cool. Any big clan training?"

"Nothing big."

"Oh," he replied, thinking. Just as our conversation had hit a stopping point, we were rudely interrupted.

"Heh, what's a guy doing here?" someone called. Oh bollocks, it was a purple-haired girl, I think I've seen her before?

"What's the matter Ami, can't stand the sight of a guy in this class?" he replied.

"It's called a kunoichi class for a reason," the girl, apparently named Ami, called out.

"We both know that that's not what this class is called, you know."

"Well, you can't be here, you're a boy!"

"And how will you make that happen? I thought Suzume-sensei was teaching the class, not you."

As if on cue, Suzume-sensei arrived right then and there.

"Everyone, settle down. Ah, Suzuhara-san, this is quite unexpected, but I'll allow you to participate in this class," she mentioned. I saw a slight smirk on Suzuhara's face.

* * *

Suzuhara-san, or should I say Kenma, wound up being my common partner for the class. I guess awkward exceptions come together then.

I did see Ami run to Suzume-sensei with a trio of flowers in her mouth saying something about poison I think? Seeing Suzume-sensei tell her that the poison was only in the roots of that flower gave the two of us a chuckle though.

Kenma did better than about half the class in the opening weeks, me included. That was certainly interesting.

One other thing I'd noticed was that Ino kept giving me the evil eye. I wasn't at all associated with Ami, so there's no way that's the problem, and I had no problems with Sakura, who was her friend still.

So unless Ino has some beef with Kenma, then there's only one possibility left: Fuu Yamanaka. I had no idea when Fuu 'joined' ROOT, but I'm starting to suspect that it happened recently. Thanks Danzo. I had no idea how close Ino and Fuu were, but they at least knew each other. Perhaps Ino got mad that Fuu disappeared, found out Danzo was part of why he disappeared and started to hate him, and then spread that hate to the rest of the clan?

Fuck if I know.

Whatever had happened didn't change how annoying it was. Ino was a social butterfly, she knew how people worked. If she wanted, she could torpedo my reputation to the point where I'm only more popular than Naruto. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

It might get worse later, because of Torune Aburame, who I know is really close with Shino. I don't think that's happened yet, since Shino hasn't glared my way yet (though how would I tell with those sunglasses of his), but he's also more subtle about his anger.

Befriend Shino before this happens?

That could help. Shino was probably a lonely sort because of his weird fashion sense and strange obsession with bugs, even if he himself isn't a bad person.

No, hold on. If I, a Shimura, befriend Shino and then Danzo Shimura takes Torune, that'd probably look suspicious as hell. Forget Shino or Ino being enemies, that could get Shino's dad the Aburame Clan Head mad at me. Or hell, I could get into trouble with Danzo.

Yeah, now that sounds like a bad idea. Maybe befriend him after the fact, if he's receptive to such a thing?

* * *

Okay, so fun fact: Ami's in my academy class. I had apparently not noticed this before - I guess the literal clan heirs overshadowed her.

This would make life a little more difficult. While Ami had tried to bother me, I hadn't reacted to her attempted bullying. She hadn't been the first, after all.

Then she started turning her attention towards Sakura. That's when I decided to get involved.

"Oi, cut it out," I stated.

"Oh yeah, what're you gonna do?" Ami replied. Oh, it's gonna be like that, is it?

"Oh, I'm sure you're aware of what could happen, right? In fact, I think I hear Iruka-sensei approaching right now," I warned. Technically it was a lie. I didn't hear him, I sensed him.

"Oh fine," Ami replied, before going to her seat. That felt easier than expected.

"Th-thanks," Sakura muttered. Right, the confident outgoing Sakura came later.

"You're welcome," I replied. Our conversation ended as soon as it began, Iruka-sensei arriving soon after the altercation.

So, my awareness of chakra started out unbearable, but then I grew into it. Nowadays, it essentially manifested as high control along with chakra sensing. Chakra sensing was a fun little thing, I guess it could be likened to a sixth sense... well, if you want to get really technical there's more than the five traditional senses...

The chakra sensing was a little different though, in that I could focus it more acutely than the other senses. I don't know if it's like that for all chakra sensors or if I'm unique in that regard due to my circumstances.

Iruka-sensei was the primary teacher of ninjutsu classes in the academy. At least, for our year. Although we were currently learning about the very very very basics of ninjutsu such as what chakra is. Apparently Naruto had already started his habit of skipping classes. Iruka didn't comment on this though.

Soon, class ended and lunch began, with the class filtering outside. Naruto was still nowhere to be found, with no obvious signs pointing to where he could be. And then Sakura approached me.

"H-hey, I'd like a chance to talk," Sakura asked.

"Sure," I replied. No reason to say no, after all.

"You and Ino don't get along," Sakura bluntly pointed out.

So much for dancing around the issue. "You're not wrong," I responded.

"Why is that?"

"I'm not sure myself. It might just be that our clans don't get along, but she seems to dislike me specifically."

"Like Ami and I?"

"No. Ami's just a bully who goes after weak targets. With Ino, it seems personal, maybe shared by other members of her clan," I reasoned/bullshitted. If this was about Fuu, then I doubt Ino was the only person that felt the way she did, but instead Ino was the only one I'd seen with those attitudes.

"Why would her clan dislike yours?"

"I don't know," I half-lied. While I had theories to what was up, I had no confirmation and no way to get that confirmation. Not like I could just ask Danzo 'hey, did you induct a Yamanaka into ROOT recently?'

"Maybe you could talk about it with her," Sakura suggested.

"Are you sure about that?"

"People should try to talk things out," Sakura stated.

"Alright alright, I'll think about it," I responded, partially to get Sakura off my back.

"Great, now another thing, can we be friends?" I was not expecting an offer like that. But I could agree to that.

"Alright, friends?"

"Yeah. Friends."

"Alright, see you later!" Sakura stated.

After that conversation, I got to thinking. I can't just walk up to Ino and say 'hey, what's up?' and ask about Fuu. That'd be fucking stupid and probably get my ass killed.

So, then what? I'd probably need some sort of neutral arbitrator involved, and I have no idea who would work in that role... fuck it, this is something for later.

* * *

Later came, I'm still stumped. My original plan had been to figure out how to talk to Ino.

I couldn't come up with an actual plan for that, though, so I did something else in order to feel like I'd accomplished something. I began to write down what I knew of the situation and everything that surrounded it. Knowledge of the Yamanakas gave way to ROOT which led to Danzo, with some associated footnotes regarding Akatsuki and Ame and Orochimaru and some other stuff. It was kinda refreshing knowing that some of this knowledge was somewhere, but the sheer scope of what I was up against was intimidating. Still, it was knowledge of what I had to eventually face. This knowledge being written in English was the perfect protection for my thoughts, since I doubted anyone could read English in this world.

The question was, now what?

I was no closer to finding a solution between me and Ino. I can only assume that Fuu's parents, whoever they were, despised Danzo and possibly the rest of the Shimura clan, sending an attitude that Ino was copying. As for Inoichi, he... could go either way. He might've either hated the old bastard or been neutral. I highly doubt he held much goodwill toward - who's knocking on my door?

I went to see who it was knocking on the front door and it was Sakura... huh?

"H-hi Sakura."

"Hey Rei, can I come in?" Sakura asked.

"Uh, hang on," I mentioned, before going to find my dad.

"Hey dad, my friend from the Academy came over, is that fine?" I asked. He nodded. Alright, I guess ninja parents were very hands-off about this whole parenting thing. Then again, I was mentally an adult. I think.

"Okay Sakura, dad's fine with you coming over," I stated.

"I figure friend's should hang out, so... what do we do now?" Sakura said. Right. Sakura at this stage was sort've a follower type of person, and I haven't got much experience with having friends over. I only had like one friend like that when I was younger - then we kinda just fell out of our friendship. Yeah.

We ended up playing ninja. Good as anything else.

* * *

 **End Rei 3**

 _Ah, the wonders of top secret information and a military government._

 _As always, thanks for the support!_

 **Chapter updated 12-18-2017.  
**


	4. Shinji 1

_Chapter updated: 11-13-2017_

 _Actually adds much more than the previous chapter revisions._

* * *

 _This is the first chapter from a point of view other than Rei's. Specifically, Shinji Shimura, who is Rei's second cousin and Danzo's nephew._

 **Begin Shinji 1**

* * *

Rei Shimura, daughter to Ritsuko and Ryoji Shimura. Rei Shimura, my second cousin.

And increasingly, I have to watch the kid. It's not a bad thing, but I really think Ryoji and Ritsuko should be around more often.

Then again, Rei Shimura was an unusual child, even among ninja clans. In my years as a ninja, I'd learned a lot about how people acted. Kids from civilian families and kids from ninja clans had certain differences with how they acted, but there were things both groups had in common.

Rei was different. In some ways, she acted more like an adult than a child. Not a civilian's child, a ninja's child, or even like a prodigious child who had been rushed through training. She acted like an adult wearing a child's body. It distressed me more than it distressed her parents or my uncle (though I imagined he'd be fine no matter how Rei acted). I wasn't entirely convinced Danzo didn't have some involvement, though the Yamanakas had crossed my mind.

Rei was still a good kid, though.

My informal mission was to supervise her. Ryoji-san had undertaken a C-rank mission that would see him out of Konoha for a few days, while Ritsuko-san had taken a B-rank that involved clearing out some missing-nin bandits. With them out of the village and my dear uncle involved in 'important clan work', I was the only one left.

Once I arrived at the Shimura manor, I peered through the window. Rei was alone, involved in some sort of chakra exercise. It wasn't one I recognized from the academy or from my time with my jounin sensei, though it was possible the curriculum had changed since the war ended. It looked like some sort of chakra control exercise involving a water balloon. I kept watching for almost a minute, until I saw the balloon burst in Rei's hand. I moved to the door and knocked.

The door opened shortly after.

"Shinji-san, hello," she announced.

"Hello Rei-chan," I replied.

"What's going on Shinji-san?"

"Well, your parents are out of town, and there's a party nearby. I've been invited by my friend, Aoi."

"Hmm… are we going?"

"Well, since you seem so excited, sure," I responded, leaving the Shimura manor, turning around to make sure Rei was following me.

"Who's the party for?" Rei asked.

"One of Aoi's students recently became a chunin. I figured I'd congratulate him."

"Aoi or the student?"

"Both, I guess," I answered, with a chuckle.

We arrived at the tavern a few minutes later. The Tavern at the End it was called, named for the well-known valley, and almost as old too. Inside the tavern was a large number of people, at least 15. At a table in the center was Idate Morino, one of Konoha's newest chunin. To his right was his brother, Ibiki Morino (a man who scared the hell out of me), and to his left was his jounin sensei and my best friend, Aoi Rokusho, his green hair easily noticeable even if you didn't know him. There were several other people present. There was a black-haired woman, Chie Uchiha, who was a mutual friend of me and Aoi. Sitting next to Ibiki was Anko Mitarashi, her purple hair almost as distinctive as her revealing outfit.

"Shinji, you're late," Aoi snarked.

"Sorry, I had to bring Rei," I responded.

"You sure you should've brought a kid to this sort of thing?"

"Aoi..."

"Hey, lay off him Aoi," Chie said, saving me from Aoi for the express purpose of going on her own offensive, "she's a cute kid though."

"Not you too Chie..,"

"She's right, you know. Cute kid," a feminine voice stated, which I recognized to belong to Anko Mitarashi.

"Anko-san, don't do anything that would scar the kid for life," Ibiki stated.

"Jeez Ibiki, I'm not that irresponsible," Anko replied.

"No matter how responsible you are, I still wouldn't trust you around children."

"Hey, I can separate my professional life from my private life just fine, Ibiki."

"Lay off her Ibiki, it's supposed to be a party," Chie spoke up, once again living up to her reputation as Konoha's most casual Uchiha.

"Eh, hi," Rei spoke up.

"Hey kid, the name's Anko Mitarashi, who are you?" Anko asked.

"Uh, R-Rei. Rei Shimura."

"Alright Rei-chan, so Shinji's your uncle or what?" Anko replied, in an overly casual tone.

"Second cousin, actually," I interjected.

"Is that so~," Anko responded in a suspicious tone, "say kid, have you been introduced to the greatest food ever made?"

"I've been told its ramen," Rei replied.

"That's 'cause you haven't been introduced to dango yet, come on," Anko declared, before walking away, Rei following along.

"Hang on Aoi, I gotta make sure Anko-san doesn't do anything weird," I said.

"Good move," Ibiki muttered.

It wasn't hard to find them. They'd only moved to a different part of the restaurant, and both of them had obtained plates full of dango.

"So, Shinji-kun," Anko began in her overly casual tone.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm just showing Rei-chan the wonders of Dango."

"Over here and not with the others?"

"I have my reasons," Anko responded, a devious smirk appearing on her face. I don't like that.

"And what could those be?"

"I'm sure you'll find out later."

"Delicious," Rei stated.

"See, the kid's got good taste," Anko added.

"Shinji-san, do you want some?" Rei asked, holding a stick of dango.

They'd just met, yet it seemed they were already connected. As curious a duo they were, I wasn't sure I trusted Anko with Rei.

"You takin' it or what?" Anko asked.

"Fine," I replied, taking the dango.

It was surprisingly delicious.

"See, I told ya he'd like it," Anko stated, "you want some more?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll have some."

"Makin' new friends, eh Shinji?" Chie inquired.

"It's not like that," I replied.

"You're too uptight, Shinji, loosen up a little."

"I don't need to-"

"An Uchiha telling you to loosen up?" Anko chuckled. Chie was hardly an ordinary Uchiha.

"Yeah Shinji, live a little," Chie smirked. If Anko and Chie were to become friends... all that came to mind were terrifying images of Anko with Uchiha fire techniques, or Chie summoning snakes into battle.

I sighed and picked up another stick of dango. Anko Mitarashi was a special jonin and former student of Orochimaru before he was forced out by the third Hokage. Although Anko didn't go with him, she still wasn't trusted by the rest of the village.

Although we could both agree that Orochimaru was no good, I still hardly knew Anko, and what I did know of here painted a picture of an... eccentric woman, one that I wasn't sure was someone who should be around Rei.

Given that Chie seemed to like Anko, I may try and befriend her at some point myself, but that would have to be a time without Rei.

"Hey Shinji, you alright?" Aoi asked.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," I replied.

"You've been doing that a lot, recently."

"Sorry about that."

"Hey, enough apologizing. Besides, Idate was wondering about doing a B-ranked mission."

"He's only been promoted recently," I warned.

"I told him that too, but I think he might have some of the skills for a B-rank."

"Hmm..." I muttered. I barely knew Idate since I didn't associate much with Aoi's squad. It wasn't out of malice, it was just that Aoi and I always met up whenever we were off duty, so the genin tended not to come along. With him being a chunin now, I might see him more often in the future.

"Alright Aoi, if we do have a B-rank mission, it'd have to be after Ryoji-san comes back,"

"Fair enough. Make sure to let me know."

"I will, don't worry Aoi," I replied.

* * *

Several days later I'd gone to meet up at one of Konoha's taverns with my friends. It was a tradition my team had started back when sensei was still around. At some point Chie had ended up joining our squad for this tradition - she'd been part of our graduating class, but had been placed on a different team.

We were about 16 when Chie joined our team's tavern sessions. It'd been after Munenori-sensei was pronounced dead - she'd helped us keep going after what happened.

"Hey guys, I brought Anko along, I hope that's fine," Chie stated. Chie... always had a habit of doing things before thinking everything through. I wasn't sure how Aoi would react-

"Sounds good to me," Aoi replied. Well, if he's fine with it...

"Fair enough," I said.

Anko was about five years younger than the rest of us. She hadn't quite graduated before the war's end, but it was winding down. At that point, it was just us and Kumo.

"So, that kid," Anko stated, "she's kinda interesting."

"There was something about that kid... she seemed apprehensive around me for some reason," Aoi added.

"Eh, I think you're just seein' things Aoi," Chie responded, "Rei's a good kid... actually, ol' Fugaku's got a son her age."

"What exactly are you suggesting, Chie?" I interjected.

"Nothin', nothin', Shinji, I just think they'd get along is all."

"Why's that?"

"They're kinda both prodigies, you know? At least, I get the kinda prodigy feeling from Rei."

"I guess. Still, it seems a bit odd to discuss this sort of thing."

"Think Uroko would've liked the kid?" Aoi asked.

"Probably. She always did like kids. She even wanted a few of her own..." I trailed off, remembering what had happened. She'd had one of her kids, but a couple months after the Kyuubi's attack, Uroko, her husband, and her daughter had died in a mysterious house fire.

"Hey, I miss her too, you know?" Chie stated.

"Hey," Anko said, "who is Uroko anyway?"

"She was our teammate back when we graduated," I explained, "Aoi, Uroko, and I were placed on a team under Toki Munenori... he was an old badger, but he taught us well, the three of us got through the war just fine, Munenori-sensei..." Munenori-sensei had been sent on a mission to Rain Country and never came back, "well, this was about Uroko. She'd survived the war, married a guy named Murakumo, had a daughter, and then they died in a house fire."

"They ever find out how?" Anko asked.

"That's the thing," Chie noted, "it was declared a normal fire but... the scene felt like there had been a jutsu used there. I think someone attacked them."

"Chie... you know they never found anything to suggest they'd been attacked," Aoi stated.

"I think they didn't look hard enough. They never found the kid either, ain't that fucked up?"

"Well, who would try and attack them, anyway?" I interrupted.

"Maybe Kumo... I mean, the war was still going, and they tried to kidnap Hiashi's kid a few years ago. Maybe they wanted their bloodline?"

"At that age there'd be no way to know if the bloodline had even been inherited," Aoi pointed out.

"Well, it's not like Kumo's shown restraint in the past when going for bloodlines."

"Anyway...," Anko said, a welcome interruption, "who's Munenori-sensei?"

"Well, he was a samurai from the Land of Iron, but he immigrated to Konoha. He said that for some reason he needed to come to Konoha. I tried asking why, but he'd always say it was a matter of destiny. He'd gone on some sort of important mission to Rain Country and never came back."

"Oh."

"Its ancient history at this point," Aoi stated, "he never said what his mission was, so we assumed it was an S-class mission."

"Sounds like he was a cool guy."

"Oh he was," Chie stated.

"Kinda wish he'd been my sensei," Anko muttered.

"Completely understandable," I responded.

We'd continued with some small-talk. Missions, job-stuff (in Anko's case), clan politics (in Chie's case), and even the weather, for a bit. Eventually, we'd decided we had drunk enough alcohol and went our separate paths home. It was a fun time then.

* * *

 **End Shinji 1**

 _Hopefully the POV from Shinji wasn't too bad. There will be numerous POVs throughout the fic, though of course Rei's going to be the most common one.  
_

 _Onto reviews._

 _"I would also like to see her relationship with Naruto build._

 _Is she going to try to save the Uchiha? The only way I could see that happening would be to warn Shisui about the future." - Mari  
_

 _Well, that would be telling, mi amigo._

 _"This is currently a rock, of a rare kind. Right now, you are chipping away layers of this rock, and as you do so, you work to unveil the innermost contents. Is it a diamond? Likely, and hopefully. Could it become dull, or even just painful? I am afraid to say that I've come across a few such stories (one or two such were about the Narutoverse). I intend to keep an eye on this, so keep up the good work! I-its not like I am waiting, or anything. -B-B-Baka" - CabooseHelpsU  
_

 _Thanks for the praise. I hope that this story develops to be a diamond as well._

 _"why should Rei know the reason for ino's dislike towards her she is a child" - fanfiction456  
_

 _You seemed to have missed that Rei comes in remembering their previous life. They were plenty familiar with Naruto when they died._

 _"I am reading a fanfic for familiar of zero, where the mc knows the story of the anime, and is transported in the original characters place. As this mc knows the old style of "the future" you could get away with "changing" events to match current canon. I feel this would be best, providing a surprise character development for rei. Plus, all the other fanfics that try to change things from canon become lost and far fetched." - CabooseHelpsU  
_

 _Things are going to change from what has occurred in canon, due to the butterfly effect._

 _Also, I'm kinda curious about that FoZ fanfic, since I didn't see it in your favorites._


	5. Danzo 1

_So, this is the first POV for Danzo. Hopefully I got his character reasonably accurate. Hiruzen's probably a bit better, though. For the record, Danzo's not going to have POVs often. After all, in canon he didn't appear until Shippuuden t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶K̶i̶s̶h̶i̶m̶o̶t̶o̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶v̶e̶n̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶._

 _Also, yes, there is a flashback. Would it really be a Naruto fic if I didn't indulge in flashback no jutsu?_

 **Begin Danzo 1**

* * *

It was rare I was at a loss for thought.

Yet that was what was happening. A thought had crossed my mind, a thought I hadn't had in many years, not since Ritsuko had become a Chunin.

 _'Am I doing my best for my clan?'_

Rei was in the Academy. Though it seemed she'd had a rough early start, she soon became something of a prodigy. In several regards she was easily ahead of most, if not all of her class.

Ritsuko had been insistent that Rei graduate on a normal time scale. Though I disagreed, with how unusual Rei was compared to other children, it may be better for it to be that way.

Rei's unusual friendship with the Kyuubi's jinchuriki - Naruto - had led Hiruzen to ask about whether the status of his secret prisoner had been compromised. I had assured him that neither I nor the rest of the clan had told Rei about the Kyuubi.

 _"Danzo, I must ask. Has Rei been told of Naruto's prisoner?" Hiruzen asked. The slight malice in his words, and the smallest downward pull on his otherwise neutral expression revealed how important this was to him._

 _"No, Hiruzen. Neither myself or anyone else in my clan has told Rei," I answered._

 _"And what about your subordinates?"_

 _"I have not ordered them to reveal this secret to Rei. If they've done so without my orders, then they'll be disciplined."_

 _"I see," Hiruzen sighed._

 _"Besides Hiruzen, if Rei did know, why would she talk to him knowing that secret?"_

 _A sigh, "It is simply a departure from the norm. I had to ensure it was merely the acts of children on their own, and not something her clan ordered her to do," Hiruzen responded._

 _"Yet the other children avoid him. Is that for the better?" I had asked. Perhaps Hiruzen's law hadn't been so clear._

 _"I can't force them to befriend Naruto," he sighed._

 _"I'll concede that, then. Still, it's strange that Rei is the first one to approach, no, outright befriend him. Knowing who his family is, I feel something more should be done. And of course I figured it out, Hiruzen - I was well aware Minato and Kushina were a pairing, after all."_

 _Hiruzen hummed before speaking, "I've avoided having any of the clans adopt Naruto, out of fear that any one clan would be too powerful."_

 _"Perhaps place him with a civilian family then, or adopt him yourself."_

 _"I doubt a civilian family would be able to understand the circumstances surrounding Naruto. I haven't adopted Naruto out of fear that people would believe that I intend to become a tyrant," Hiruzen stated. The old man wanted to be a soft ruler. Of course._

 _"And yet sometimes ninja have to have an iron fist as well," I mentioned, as Hiruzen had led during the Third Shinobi War. "Should not the Hokage be the most powerful? Besides, I'm sure Konohamaru would appreciate an older brother."_

 _Hiruzen hummed once again, "I suppose if you word it that way, I'll consider it. Such a move may be considered... unusual though."_

 _"Perhaps, but I believe it's for the better."_

If Hiruzen were to adopt him, it may be that with a stable family life alongside his friendship, he'd become a valuable ninja of Konoha in time. And if Hiruzen didn't... perhaps the Shimura clan could bring him in, even if an official adoption would be off-limits for now. I could plan for either eventuality.

Though Rei was a prodigy, she was wholly unsuited for ROOT. Sasuke was unsuitable as it would push the Uchiha further into enmity, likely making the situation beyond salvaging. Neji was unsuitable due to his seal. Though Shino was suitable, I had been rejected. The way Rei acted, even without training, was different from almost any other child I'd seen. I held doubts that ROOT training could ever suit her.

Even if it could, my family would never forgive me - and without my clan, most of my supporters would abandon me. Who would trust a ninja that had earned their family's enmity, after all?

At this rate, it was likely she would become the top kunoichi of her year and be placed alongside the top male and the bottom passing student. If the current patterns continued, then Rei's squad mates would be Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki - an interesting pattern.

And yet... what part was I doing in raising her? A part of me argued that even though I wasn't her parent, I was still her family, was I not? Even Shinji, for how different he was, had been playing a part in her life. So where was I?

It was a difficult question.

"Danzo-sama," I heard a voice. The source of the voice was a red-haired boy who had begun his training. Fuu Yamanaka would become an excellent asset in time.

"What is it?" I questioned.

"The latest reports, Danzo-sama," he said, before handing me a folder of papers. This was larger than usual. I took the folder from him.

"You are dismissed," I said, before he left. I looked into the folder

...

The situation had deteriorated in Amegakure.

Nearly all of the ROOT ninja in Amegakure had been killed. Of the 24 that had been sent to aid Hanzo, only 5 remained, 3 of those 5 injured. This was a large setback, one that would take ROOT years to recover.

Another ROOT nin entered, this one in his thirties.

"Hiketsu, your mission report?"

"My mission proceeded according to plan. All parameters outlined were fulfilled."

"Excellent," I responded. Hiketsu was one of my best agents, and though it'd be out of my character, perhaps he'd be able to assist me in this regard, "before you leave, I must ask you something. Multiple agents have been sent on a long-term mission, and you receive a report stating most of them are now dead. What would you do?" I questioned. Hiketsu remained silent for several moments before he responded.

"I would recall the survivors. Make thorough investigation to ensure there isn't a traitor in the midst. If there is, remove the traitor. If we haven't been betrayed, then the situation at their location has become untenable. It would be advisable to end operations there," Hiketsu answered. Perhaps he thought this was a test of some sort.

"I see. You are dismissed Hiketsu," I said.

I would send out the order to those that remained in Amegakure. If there was a traitor who had somehow found a way around the seals, then they would be dealt with. If there wasn't a traitor, then Hanzo has become a liability, his potential usefulness now outweighed by his drawbacks.

* * *

 **End Danzo 1  
**

 _Next chapter will (most likely) go back to Rei._

 _"I feel bad for her cousin, worrying that Danzo is brainwashing her. Her friendship with Anko will be truly terrifying._

 _Naruto's POV would be great too._

 _I imagine Sarutobi would be suspicious of Danzo's granddaughter befriending Naruto." - Mari._

 _The fact that Anko's now befriended Rei has basically doubled Anko's friend list. Naruto will eventually get a POV, though probably only after graduation._

 _"Hell...Trying Rasengan already?_  
 _Well, no time like the present..._  
 _Will she teach Naruto this?" - AmethystPone_

 _Rei's figures they'll need a strong jutsu in case things go really south. Despite having it, it's gonna be treated as more or less a forbidden technique for a while. After all, two people alive on the planet know the jutsu and Rei will have had no opportunity to meet either of them. That's also kinda why Naruto won't learn the Rasengan from Rei._

 _Anyways, thanks for all the support everyone!_


	6. Rei 4

_So, this particular chapter is mostly meant to bridge a gap until the next big event. Not much else to say beyond that. Also, I added a disclaimer to chapter 1._

 **Begin Rei 4**

* * *

I'd wound up with a bit of an interesting group of friends at the Academy... Sakura, Naruto, and Kenma, who were all interesting in their own ways.

Naruto and Sakura were destined for greatness. Of course, I was probably going to take Sakura's spot on Team 7, which might cause some trouble...

Kenma wasn't someone I knew of from the original canon. He was smart and rather courteous, all things considered, though he'd mentioned his mom really didn't like Naruto. As far as I could tell, Kenma's mom was a civilian, though his father had apparently left when he was very young.

I'd even met Sasuke a few times. Pre-Massacre Sasuke was very different than what I expected. He was happy and outgoing. Of course, he was still the prodigy of the class, exceeding even the other clan heirs.

How I'd wish that've lasted.

* * *

Four days after Idate was promoted, dad came back from his mission. That same day, Shinji, Aoi, and Idate went on a B-rank mission that would take them out of Konoha for a while. Dad said it'd take them about a month, assuming things went as expected.

A week after Shinji's mission began, the Uchiha clan died.

Fuck.

How hadn't I seen that coming? I should've seen it coming. Yet... I'd only ever seen Sasuke, and I guess brief glimpses of Itachi and Fugaku.

Still, I'd thought there'd be more obvious tension in the village. Evidently though, I'd instead been completely blindsided.

Sasuke didn't show up at the academy for several days. When he returned, he'd changed a lot - he'd shut himself off from the world, only caring for his studies. I knew the path he was on would eventually be self-destructive if nothing stopped him. At the same time though, he was completely unwilling to talk, to open himself up.

That sucked.

Clearly I'd worn my displeasure on my sleeves, because Kenma noticed.

"Sasuke, right?" he'd asked.

"Huh?" I'd replied.

"What happened to Sasuke, it's botherin' ya."

"Well, you're right about that. How'd you know?"

"It's botherin' me too ya know," Kenma stated.

Continue the conversation, Rei.

"Yeah, what to do though?"

"Honestly? I think he needs some space right now," he'd mentioned, "but he'll need someone later."

"What to do when the time is right, then?"

"Well, I dunno," Kenma admitted, "I guess just act natural and don't suck up to him."

"Not much of a plan, but I guess we'll work on that later."

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha dedicated himself to nothing but his studies now. If he hadn't been a prodigy before, then nothing could stop him from being called a prodigy now. Sasuke was smart, driven, quiet, and about as approachable as a prickly pear.

Apparently, that last part didn't bother some people, as his growing fan club would attest.

How does that make sense?

Maybe his devotion to his studies would translate to devotion to a relationship? Maybe they really wanted in on the Uchiha money and prestige? Maybe they're all just into Tsunderes?

Please let that not be the case.

Sasuke probably regarded me with - at best - neutrality. I hadn't done anything to offend him and I didn't want anything romance related with him. Assuming my current plans worked out though, I'd be in his squad. Hopefully things will work out there.

...he could never know that I knew the Massacre would happen.

As class ended and lunchtime began, Sasuke disappeared. Once I entered the academy's yard, I looked around. Naruto seemed to once again have gone somewhere, there seemed to be a game of ninja in the works, and Sakura was approaching me.

"Hey, Rei, I've... got something to ask," she began. This is different.

"What is it?" I responded.

"You wouldn't happen to... um..."

"To what?" I pressed.

"To... like Sasuke?" she finished. Oh. So _that's_ what this was about.

"No," I bluntly responded, "I can't imagine myself in that kind of relationship with him at all."

"Oh," was all Sakura responded with. Maybe I'd been too blunt.

"If you want him, feel free. And good luck I guess," I stated. I had a question though, "anyways Sakura, what brought this up?"

"Oh, um... it's just that all the other girls seem to like him," she answered. As much as I wanted to argue, I could only think of one girl our age who didn't have a thing for Sasuke, annoyingly enough. Hinata's the outlier here. And me, I guess. Technically.

"Well, if you need someone to talk to, feel free to come to me, that's what friends do, after all."

"R-right," Sakura responded.

"Anyways, I've got to go do something," I stated, that something being to Naruto before he gets into trouble.

"Alright, see you later Rei."

* * *

The Konoha Academy teaches several basic ninjutsu and requires competency in most of them. While you aren't required to know all of them, you're required to know the Clone Jutsu and at least 2 others.

Makes me wonder how Lee passed.

As far as I know, there wasn't any guidelines on what the 2 other jutsu were, but the Clone Jutsu was necessary.

Speaking of which, the Clone Jutsu itself was an awkward jutsu. It could create clones, but these clones were just mirages essentially. They didn't leave shadows or footprints and didn't have any physical body. They might be useful in fooling a not-so-bright opponent, but I suspect this jutsu's purpose is to help learn chakra control and lead to better techniques. Especially better clone jutsus.

As for the other three techniques the Academy teaches, I might as well go over them.

First, the Transformation Jutsu. Oh the myriad uses I could find. I can disguise as an enemy! I can disguise as a less threatening ally! I can intimidate the enemy by disguising as a more threatening ally! I can turn into inanimate objects (be careful with this)! I can mess with someone's reputation!

Of course, one thing this jutsu isn't so useful for is long term infiltration. Using the Henge doesn't apply a single chakra cost, but instead steadily drains from your chakra supply over time. As a result, on long term missions, actual disguises retain some usefulness. After all, if you suddenly need to get the hell out of dodge, you don't want to be down a third of your chakra because you've been henged for the last eight hours.

Speaking of disguises, Suzume-sensei's infiltration class taught the Disguise Jutsu, which allowed someone to blend into their environment by using a sheet of cloth. Technically, the cloth was optional, but it made it a lot easier. Somehow, despite not taking the infiltration course, Naruto managed to learn this. I have no idea how.

The Rope Escape Technique was probably the least useful basic academy technique. Not that escaping from ropes was _bad,_ but it only worked for rope - they'd been very specific about it. While there were derivatives that worked with stronger materials, you'd have to come across them after the academy... and considering you can literally walk into a store and buy ninja wire (distinctly not rope...).

Huh, was Harry Houdini a reincarnate from Naruto? That'd explain all his crazy escape abilities... he'd reincarnated and knew the techniques. Didn't explain away the chakra issue though...

Finally, the Substitution technique, the greatest jutsu ever made. Not quite a teleport, its _sort've/not quite_ like the Shunshin?

Essentially, it's like get-out-of-jail-free type of jutsu. It had limitations though. More or less, its cost was not a flat cost but was (annoyingly enough) a math equation: its cost was determined by both the distance between you and the substitution object as well as the difference in mass between you and the object you're substituting with. This is part of why ninjas use logs so much - they were relatively close in mass to most ninja without being very unwieldy.

* * *

Sakura was the pillar of normalcy. Somehow, she seemed to not have heard of what had happened to Sasuke. At least, nothing more than the barest details...

I'd found it odd at first, but I'd needed some normalcy in my life.

Sakura and Kenma helped me maintain some illusion of me having a normal life, even if it felt more like I was in high school rather than elementary school...

Then again, we'd go into work right after graduating, so I guess it was high school?

"Hey guys you'll never guess what happened!" a voice called, interrupting my thoughts and the study group the three of us had.

Naruto also helped maintain that normal childish atmosphere, despite being far from normal himself.

"What happened?" Kenma asked.

"I got adopted!" Naruto replied. What.

"By who?" Sakura questioned. With Naruto's reputation, who'd adopt him?

"The old man adopted me!" he'd responded with just as much enthusiasm as before.

The old man? He doesn't mean The old man, does he?

"The old man?" Kenma asked.

"Yeah, the Hokage!" What?

"So you're now the Hokage's son?" I wondered, trying to piece this together.

"Yeah, believe it! Now everyone's gotta acknowledge me!"

"Well, that's real great, Naruto!" Kenma stated.

"Congratulations Naruto," I added.

"Well Naruto, I think my parents will be happy about that," Sakura mentioned. That's right, Sakura's parents, for whatever reason, didn't seem to like Naruto. Kenma's mom had made it very clear that she didn't like Naruto, of course. It bothered me that my parents seemed to be unique about not hating Naruto.

Well, Hiruzen was fine with Naruto too. Naruto got on Iruka-sensei's nerves, but that was because he was always the one to catch Naruto, I imagine.

"Hey Naruto, care to explain why you weren't this morning?" Speak of the devil, it seems. Naruto's face paled as he realized Iruka was right behind him.

* * *

 **End Rei 4**

 _I'm still not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but it gets some of the big stuff out of the way._

 _ **Retroactive edit** : Big changes to this chapter done on 12-18-2017.  
_

 _"She could always hide knowing/learning the Rasengan by saying that the steps to make it are just Chakra Control techniques or something :)" - BClassDemon_

 _True, the learning part is the easy part. Even still, they're very clearly not academy standard, and the actual jutsu itself is going to remain hidden for a while._

 _"Eh...The way things are going with the ninja world, Rei might be forced to use it earlier then she would like...which would lead to questions..._

 _Hmm...So it will be similar to canon with Naruto for sometimes huh?_

 _And yea...It's probably time for protagonist's POV again..." - AmythystPone_

 _Rei's going to use the Rasengan. I won't spoil when, but I will spoil if._

 _Naruto's going to be better off, but there's still going to be conflict there. Just because the Hokage likes him doesn't mean there won't still be resentment against him._

 _Anyways, I'm a bit further ahead of schedule for next chapter because I wrote a bunch of that while deciding how to do Hiruzen's adoption _._

 _As usual, thanks for the support, everyone!_


	7. Shinji 2

_Fun fact: I'd originally planned to make this two chapters, but decided against it to truncate the length + get to graduation faster._

 _Updated: 1-10-18 - I still stand by the previous statement._

 **Begin Shinji 2**

* * *

Konoha was on high alert.

There was an explosion at one of Konoha's armories. Something was going on, all I needed to know was _what._

I arrived at the armory. The guards stationed here had disappeared - most likely killed by whoever attacked. I looked around - there was a trail leading into the woods; almost as if they wanted me to follow them. It was possibly a trap, but I had to follow.

Footprints were visible from the very start, but I also noticed slash marks burned into the trees. I felt a familiar chakra up ahead. He'd be helpful.

"Aoi, what's going on?" I called out.

"Shinji... I've been waiting for you," he responded, in a dull tone.

"What do you mean, Aoi?" I asked.

"I knew you would follow me here," he responded. But if he said that, then…

"You don't mean to say you were responsible for that explosion, Aoi?"

"Don't worry Shinji, I took care to avoid being seen."

"Aoi, what are you doing?" I questioned. Why was he doing this?

"I thought you'd have put it together by now, Shinji. Munenori-sensei always said you were one of his brightest pupils."

"Are you saying you're going to become a missing-nin?"

"Yes Shinji. This Konoha... isn't the one I swore my loyalty to."

"What are you saying?!" I yelled.

"How can I remain a part of a village that will reject and kill their own?" he asked, anger in his voice.

"You're not making sense Aoi!"

"I'm referring to the Uchiha clan, Shinji. They were betrayed by the very village they built and lived in."

"That's insane!"

"Is it? How could one man kill his entire clan in one night, including veterans of the second and third wars, as well as the clan head? Why is it that there were no Uchiha outside of the village on missions that night? How could a single man supposedly kill over a hundred people, most of them trained ninja, with no interference? Where were the ANBU? Where was the rest of Konoha while all this happened?" Aoi wondered, his voice having become a shout near the end of his questions. Now I saw where he was coming from. He'd said I was one of Munenori's brightest, but Aoi could always reach conclusions that the rest of us didn't.

Chie Uchiha. Our friend. She died that night too. We'd both mourned for her, but she'd never let Aoi do this.

"You really think Itachi was sent by Konoha to kill his own family?" I ground out.

"Yes. It's the only explanation that makes sense to me. It's too perfect to have been an accident like they said. And if they'll destroy the Uchiha then who else would they kill? You? Me? Your clan?"

"I refuse to believe Konoha would destroy itself," I responded.

"Come with me, Shinji. Maybe we can find the truth together," Aoi offered. He was my best friend and squadmate, the only other member of my squad who still lived. We'd been friends for longer than Rei had been alive.

But he was asking me to become a missing-nin with him. I can't do that.

"No Aoi, I can't betray Konoha. Not the people I trust."

"I see then, Shinji. Farewell," Aoi stated, before walking away.

"Chie wouldn't have wanted this," I called out. He stopped in his tracks.

"Maybe not," he responded, "but she wouldn't have wanted to die either. I have to find out why."

"I won't let you leave."

"So that's what it's come to, then," Aoi muttered, activating a strange weapon that emitted a glowing yellow blade. I drew a kunai and went forward, intending to strike quickly. My kunai was blocked by Aoi's blade, sending electric shocks through arm. I barely managed to retreat before Aoi's blade would've cut across my chest.

"Can't you see now Shinji? The Sword of the Thunder God cannot be defeated," Aoi gloated.

Munenori-sensei had taught us much about his abilities. Uroko had always been the best at kenjutsu, but Aoi and I both knew the basics. I'd always been superior at taijutsu, but that was before he obtained the Second Hokage's sword. Not only was I outranged, but any direct contact with that blade sent electricity coursing through me. I'd have to stick to ninjutsu then.

"Wind style: Air Cutter!" I said, before exhaling several wind blades towards him. Aoi reflected two of them with the Sword, before jumping backwards.

"You're not getting away," I shouted, "Earth style: Earth Wall!" A wall rose from the ground behind him, blocking his path. Though he reflected the rest of my Air Cutters, he wasn't prepared for the next technique, "Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!" I shouted, before spewing flames toward him.

"Water style: Water Bullet jutsu!" Aoi called, easily extinguishing my fireball. Aoi charged forward shortly afterward, brandishing his sword.

"Earth style: Earth Wall!" I blocked Aoi's path forward, planning to enclose him.

I began to prepare another earth wall to completely block him off, but then the Sword of the Thunder God pierced through the wall in front of me. Electricity exploded out from the blade, shattering the wall completely.

"Wind Style: Air Cutter!" I said, pouring much more chakra into this attack than the last Air Cutter. This time, it came as one single large attack, forcing Aoi to block with his blade. Unlike before, he was strained to block the attack, and when he pressed the attack away, I noticed something about his sword.

The Air Cutter had managed to crack it.

"Not so invincible, is it?" I jabbed.

"That won't be enough," Aoi returned, before moving his blade to the side. I prepared to attack again, but Aoi had used an attack, evident by a fireball appearing in the sky. I felt the heat, but I knew something was wrong. It was a genjutsu, a high C-rank one. I immediately dispelled it.

The failed genjutsu had let him close the gap between us, I prepared to stop his blade with my kunai, but instead he unleashed a torrent of electricity from his blade.

I was then paralyzed on the ground, the events after the electricity a blur. I heard Aoi walk away, but couldn't do a thing to stop him.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Shinji," I heard him apologize, before he left. I couldn't follow, not with this paralysis. Damn it, I'd have to wait till it wore off, and by then he'd be long gone.

* * *

When I came to, I was in a bed at the hospital. A familiar enough ceiling.

"Shinji-san, you've come to," a voice called out. To my left was a black-haired nurse, the source of that voice.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You were found paralyzed in the woods near the armory," she responded. Right, that. I'd lost to Aoi. A part of me had hoped it a dream but…

"What happened to Aoi?"

"He's gone," the nurse stated.

"So he left, then?" I pressed. Which definition had she meant?

"Yes. I will inform your first visitor that you've awoken," she said, before leaving. A visitor already? That was assuming my fight with Aoi was yesterday. How long had I been out? Had I been unconscious for just the night or for several days?

The nurse entered the room again, followed by the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama?"

"Shinji Shimura, I see you've recovered well," he said.

"I have, Hokage-sama."

"Good, good. Miss," he began, turning to the nurse, "would you be so kind as to leave the two of us?"

"Y-yes Hokage-sama," she responded, before exiting the room.

"I understand that Aoi was your squadmate, Shinji."

"He was."

"I presume then this is a difficult time for you."

"... yes, it is."

"I will tell you this, then. Aoi's betrayal is not your fault, nor should it be your responsibility."

"My responsibility?"

"Yes. Though his betrayal is unfortunate, you shouldn't devote yourself to his retrieval."

"...I see," I stated, "why tell me this?"

"Your friend, Anko, feels that way about Orochimaru. She was his student before he left the village. She believes she has to put him to justice."

"I see then," I replied. I knew Anko had some strong feelings about her former teacher, but not to this extent.

He began to leave, "Hokage-sama, before you leave, I have a question based on what Aoi said to me during our fight. What happened to the Uchiha clan?"

The Hokage sighed, "Itachi Uchiha killed the entirety of the clan, except for his brother. What was it he said?"

"He said that the Uchiha were betrayed by Konoha."

"I don't know what Itachi's motivations were. Perhaps he thought he was doing Konoha a favor. Regardless, his actions have made him an enemy of Konoha."

"I see. That's all, Hokage-sama," I finished. The Hokage left my room.

The nurse came in some time later.

"You've been given authorization to leave the hospital. You're free to go."

"Thank you," I replied.

* * *

Once I checked out at the service desk, I encountered Anko. She'd considered Aoi something of a friend too.

This on top of what happened to Chie… must've been hard on her.

"Hey Shinji," she said. She lacked her usual smile.

"Anko? Why're you here?" I asked.

"What do you think? I heard about what happened."

"Yeah, with Aoi..."

"I'm gonna lay it straight. I know how things can be when someone you thought you could trust turns into an enemy. I can talk to you about that."

"I… that'd be nice. Let's talk about it."

"Alright, I know a pretty good dango place," Anko said, practically dragging me along to wherever she was going.

I had a feeling things would be alright.

* * *

 **End Shinji 2**

 _To get the big_ _question (because I know ya'll will ask) out of the way: No, Aoi doesn't know he knows part of the truth. Aoi also doesn't suspect the Uchiha clan's own plans._

 _Next chapter is definitely the end of the childhood arc and the beginning of the graduation arc. I mean it. **Retroactive edit** \- I probably could've done more with the childhood arc tbh but it'd be hard to do that without breaking reviews/story structure.  
_

 _I've also come up with some stats (akin to the databooks) for Shinji and Aoi._

 _Shinji's stats  
Ninjutsu: 3.5  
Taijutsu: 4  
Genjutsu: 2.5  
Intelligence: 4  
Strength: 3  
Speed: 3.5  
Stamina: 3.5  
Hand Seals: 3.5  
Total: 27.5_

 _Aoi's stats (without the Sword of the Thunder God)  
Ninjutsu: 2.5  
Taijutsu: 3  
Genjutsu: 3.5  
Intelligence: 4  
Strength: 2.5  
Speed: 3.5  
Stamina: 3  
Hand Seals: 4  
Total: 26_

 _Granted, I can't guarantee how balanced they are (though I did attempt to make them roughly balanced compared to other jounin and Iruka). Then again, I want to avoid fights just being "who has bigger numbers", like how DBZ and later Shippuuden did._

 _As usual, thanks for support everyone!_


	8. Just Monika

So, funny thing: originally the first chapter was two separate chapters because pacing the childhood arc was a bitch. I've since then made it a little better, but this chapter is a relic of that time. Depending on how the rest of my plans to improve the early part of the story go, this chapter may end up disappearing. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Update: This chapter moved forward because I edited Chapter 2.

Update: Moved forward again because Chapter 3 got updated.

Update: Moved ahead because Chapter 4 updated.

Update: Moved ahead because Danzo's first POV got slightly edited.

Update: edited Chapter 1 and 2 and 3 again. Also moved forward because Rei 4 got way better.

update: edited Shinji 2 hooray


	9. Rei 5

_Sorry this took so long. Work schedule was a bit of a pain, plus some other stuff I got caught up in._

 _With this chapter, we finally get proper ninjahood._

 **Begin Rei 5**

* * *

Shinji didn't take Aoi's betrayal well. This was of course, an understatement. Like Sasuke after the massacre, his training came more often, and with an increased intensity and coldness in his chakra.

I'd discovered another advantage to my chakra sensing - the ability to gauge how large people's chakra reserves could be. Shinji had... fairly large reserves when he wasn't holding back.

Whether he was training to bring Aoi back alive or dead, I couldn't tell.

He and Anko met more often - I knew Anko didn't have much of a social circle in canon. In fact, I think she only had two actual friendships: Kurenai and Ibiki. Shinji and I practically (if not literally) doubled her list of friends. Shinji, aside from Aoi, Idate, and Anko, didn't seem to have much of a social circle either – that I knew of, anyway. I wasn't sure why, since he was a legitimately nice person.

"Rei?" I heard my mother's voice, stirring me from my thoughts.

"Mother?" I responded.

"I think it's time we begin your clan training," she stated. This was the first time I'd heard of specialized training. I'd have thought it've begun earlier, though I suppose since the Shimura clan have a kekkei genkei, and it's a period of peace...

"Okay," was my response.

"Now then, before we begin, I want you to put your chakra into this paper," she said, handing me a familiar piece of paper. I put some chakra into it and the paper split in two. A slight smile appeared on her face, "as I suspected: a wind affinity."

"Wind?" I asked.

"Our clan tends to have a wind affinity. As a result, most of our clan techniques are wind type jutsu."

"What if I wasn't wind type, then?"

"That'd be difficult then, but not impossible. I do know techniques of other types."

"So, when do we start?" I asked.

My mother chuckled, before continuing, "We were just about to begin."

* * *

Training was under supervision of not just my mother, but also Danzo.

My mother's chakra reserves were a little larger than Shinji's. Whether that was because of age or just how she was born, I couldn't tell. She usually held her chakra back, but it was definitely large. Danzo... I could tell he was holding back, but even then, his reserves were above Shinji's. Large reserves, it seemed, were a typical Shimura trait.

The first part of the clan training was chakra control. Evidently though, I had excellent chakra control for someone my age. _I wonder how that could have occurred._ As such, this part of training took about a week.

The first jutsu I learned was Gust of Wind. A completely basic technique, the lowest of D-rank wind jutsu. Gust of Wind existed almost entirely to serve as a basis for better techniques, with it also being useful for certain menial labor. I suppose it only made sense that I wouldn't be using the Vacuum Sphere from the start, as cool as that would've been.

It took a couple weeks to get Gust of Wind to Danzo's liking. The next technique was the first combat-oriented one I'd be learning: Air Cutter. This technique was the most basic cutting jutsu for wind users - it was perhaps the Shimura equivalent to the Fireball jutsu. Danzo noted that this jutsu was meant to be a stepping stone for larger jutsu, though it could also be made more powerful and efficient with much time and effort - too much time and effort to be worthwhile, according to Danzo, when that time could be spent on larger jutsu.

This technique took a greater part of a year to learn and reach to Danzo's approval.

At that point, I was nine years old. The pace of training slowed down, something I was perfectly content with. With the slower pace, I had begun to learn another technique: Wind Fist, a basic brute force equivalent to the slicing technique that was the Air Cutter. My parents noted that most wind users sought to master cutting techniques over blunt force attacks, but jutsu of both varieties existed, which made sense.

* * *

Time passed.

Now I was 12.

I had no doubt I'd be graduating with the Rookie Nine. I'd made it this far, after all.

I'd heard talks that I could've graduated a year earlier. If I were to have graduated the same year as Neji and Lee... I had considered it, but decided against it, since I wasn't sure if I'd be placed in a good position to cause change for the better.

Besides, the extra year I waited had finally netted me the Rasengan. I was extraordinarily jealous that Naruto had learned it in a week. Then again, he had the advantage of Shadow Clones and a much larger chakra supply. I'd also finished learning the Wind Fist and had focused on further refining my control.

"...we want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up," Iruka stated.

"Team Six will be Sakura Haruno, Kenma Suzuhara, and Ami Yujo," Iruka continued. Well... _that was going to end well._ I felt kinda bad.

"Team Seven is Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Rei Shimura," he stated. Naruto seemed ecstatic, Sasuke... well, his expression hadn't changed at all. Teams 8 and 10 hadn't changed from the original story, "after lunch, you'll meet your jounin teachers. Class dismissed."

"So, why don't we get to know each other?" I suggested to my new teammates.

"How am I supposed to get along with a guy like Sasuke?" Naruto responded.

"We'll get along as long as you stay out of my way," Sasuke fired back. It hadn't even been 5 minutes and they were already at each other's throats.

Making them get along would be like herding cats.

"Look guys, we're stuck together regardless of what we want. We might as well make the best of it," I offered.

I could tell neither Naruto nor Sasuke were happy about this particular team setup.

"Alright," Naruto admitted. Sasuke just hmmed in response. It was something.

The rest of lunch proceeded mostly without much incident. The same though couldn't be said for our return to the classroom. Between Ino blatantly fawning over Sasuke and an argument between Sakura and Ami that started over (though didn't end with) Sasuke, his mood soured. Though he only snapped at Naruto, who was the only person who directly interacted with him.

"Hey Rei, how did you end up with Sasuke?" I heard Sakura ask.

"I wish I knew…" I replied.

"If only there was some way to swap teams… maybe I could trade places with Naruto," Sakura murmured. Before I could respond, a bandana wearing jounin chewing on a senbon entered the room.

"Team Six, you're with me," he stated. They quickly got up and left.

"Good luck, Sakura," I said. I sat back and relaxed, knowing that Kakashi would be exceedingly late. Asuma and Kurenai collected their squads, and there were several other jounin who entered and collected squads of people I didn't know.

It was just the three of us and Iruka.

"Alright, I need to be at the mission desk in ten minutes. You'll be alright?" Iruka stated. We assured him we would.

And so it was just the three of us.

Naruto's patience had already run thin, so he took to wandering the room, looking for anything to do.

I stretched back, relaxed, and closed my eyes. How was the meeting with Kakashi going to go?

I knew a few things about Kakashi, but I'd obviously never met him, and I'd never talked to anyone about him.

"Our teacher's a jounin; do you think he'd fall for that?" I heard Sasuke state. I opened my right eye and saw Naruto had wedged an eraser in the door.

I was about to say something, but then I felt something. A rather large chakra signature, almost as large as my mother's.

The door opened, the eraser falling on a head of white hair.

Naruto about doubled over in laughter. Sasuke's scowl intensified.

This was Kakashi Hatake, one of the strongest people in Konoha. Probably only beaten by the Hokage and my grandfather – he was former ANBU, had the Sharingan, eventually unlocked the Mangekyo, and was personally trained by the fourth Hokage. And because he let an eraser fall on his head, Naruto and Sasuke shrugged him off. Hell, I almost did.

"My first impression… I don't like you," he bluntly stated. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes," he added, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

We arrived on the roof easily enough.

"Alright, why don't we all introduce ourselves?" Kakashi began, leaning on the railing of the roof, "y'know, your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future? You on the right, why don't you start?"

As it turned out, Naruto was on his right, "Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! What I like is ramen, especially Ichiraku's. I also like the old man. What I dislike is waiting for ramen to cook. My hobby is comparing different kinds of ramen, and my dream is to be the Hokage!"

"Interesting… on the left then," Kakashi said, now addressing Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a lot of things I hate, but not much I like. My ambition is to restore the Uchiha clan and kill a certain man,"

And that left me, "My name is Rei Shimura. I like my friends and family. I don't feel like talking about dislikes. I guess the closest I have to a hobby is training, and my dream… no, it'd be better to call it an ambition, is to save people's lives."

"Interesting... alright, I'm Kakashi Hatake, I don't feel like talking about my likes and dislikes, I have several hobbies, and my dream? Eh, I haven't given that much thought. Now that we know each other, I'll tell you what we'll do tomorrow."

"Is it a mission?" Naruto asked.

"Yes and no… it's a survival exercise."

"A survival exercise? But we already graduated the academy!"

"You see, the graduation is just the selection of candidates to become ninja. Typically though, only nine graduates out of each class become ninja. In other words, this test has at least a 66% failure chance."

Sasuke became more focused. Naruto had obtained a scowl that wouldn't look out of place on Sasuke's face.

"Meet me at Training Ground Three at five AM. Don't eat breakfast, you'll puke," Kakashi noted, before disappearing into a swirl of leaves. Although he stated the arrival time to be five AM, knowing how punctual Kakashi was gave me a lot more leeway, which gave me valuable time to conduct research.

Before I started though, I felt it might be better to get the squad together.

"Why don't we go to my home?" I suggested.

"I can't, the old man said he wanted to talk to me after I met my sensei," Naruto explained.

"Okay, how about you Sasuke?"

"Not interested," he stated. Well, that was to be expected.

On the plus side, it did give me some more time to find information about Kakashi. I knew some things about him, but perhaps I'd find something I might've forgotten. That, and I wanted to be sure I could cover my ass if need be.

Once I got home, I greeted my parents.

"So, who's your sensei?" Dad asked. Ever the big question.

"Kakashi Hatake," I replied.

"Ah, I see."

"You've heard of Kakashi's reputation, haven't you?" Mom asked.

"Not really. Is he normally as... timely as he was today?" I wondered.

"He was late, wasn't he?" my father said with a smirk.

"Yes."

"Well, he also has a certain reputation for always failing his teams," Dad added. I grimaced.

"I intend to beat him," I responded.

Dad chuckled before continuing, "That's good then, but what's your plan?"

"Information. If I know a few things about what he can do, then that'll put me in a better position than his other squads."

"It seems we did something right," Dad said to Mom, before turning to me, "we have a few books that might help."

Within the clan library were many books, but most of these weren't immediately helpful. The book my mother pulled from the shelf though...

"This is something I got from a mission a few years back. The information should still be useful," she told me.

* * *

"Rei, you're late!" Naruto yelled. It was 7:13 AM, well past the 5AM meetup time for the exercise with Kakashi. Naruto and Sasuke had both shown up, well awake and prepared for a typical exercise. Kakashi, of course, was nowhere to be seen.

"I have a very good reason for being late," I responded.

"What?" Naruto asked, his voice substantially quieter than before. Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow.

"I have information on Kakashi-sensei."

 _"The guy's done so many S-ranks people have trouble counting 'em all," Anko had said._

 _"Any fight with Hatake-san will be unpredictable. I'm not sure even Kakashi knows how many techniques he has," Shinji mentioned._

 _"Known to be ANBU, only to be approached and fought by Jounin level ninja, bounty: 20,000,000 ryo," My mother's pilfered Kirigakure's bingo book had stated._

"What kind of information?" Naruto questioned. I stood between my two teammates.

"Don't let his appearance and actions fool you, he's without a doubt one of Konoha's most elite jounin," I warned.

"Then why'd that eraser hit his head?"

"He's testing us. Trying to make us drop our guard."

"Why would I want some fool to be my sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"To put us at ease. Would you prefer he'd introduced himself as Sharingan Kakashi, the man who's copied a thousand jutsu?" Sasuke immediately dedicated his full attention.

"The Sharingan," Sasuke replied, in what sounded like a questioning tone.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I don't the full details, only that he got it on a mission," I returned. I hadn't asked about Kakashi's Sharingan. This was hopefully a vague enough answer to sate Sasuke's curiosity.

"How long ago?" Sasuke probed.

"I'm not sure beyond it being years ago."

"Hang on, the Sharingan?" Naruto asked.

"The Uchiha bloodline, it's a dojutsu that's typically exclusive to Uchiha," Sasuke replied.

"So he's pretty tough then?" Naruto surmised.

"If he has the Sharingan, we have to take him seriously."

"I'll go scout the area," I mentioned, before stopping, "before I go though, did either of you eat this morning?"

"No way, Kakashi said we'd puke!" Naruto replied.

"He did say that, but one should always eat before missions. You never know when your next meal will be. I have some bars. They're nutritious," I handed each of them a bar. These were typical rations for typical missions - crammed with essential nutrients and vitamins, and about as tasty as dirt. I walked away from the others, intending to scout the area. I heard Naruto react poorly to the taste of those bars.

As I scouted, I found a dark stone carved into a hexagon, itself resting upon a pedestal - the Memorial Stone. I was curious to see what names I could recognize, or perhaps who was from my own clan.

I knew Kakashi's teammates were on this stone, after all.

 _Obito Uchiha. Rin Nohara_. The names of Kakashi's teammates and closest friends. Neither of them had lived to adulthood.

 _Yui Shimura_. That name came soon after Rin's. I'd known that the Shimura clan had lost many to war... was she related to Shinji? A part of my mind asked that.

My eyes wandered toward the top of the stone.

 _Kagami Uchiha. Naoko Shimura_. These two names were close to each other. I had no idea how Kagami was related to Sasuke, but I'd heard his name before... someone Grandfather knew years ago. Naoko was an unfamiliar name... unless she was my grandmother. I'd never heard her referred to by name, but if she was in fact my grandmother... hmm, then if Kagami and Naoko - grandmother - died close to each other...

"Y'know, I was expecting you to be with the others," a cool voice said from behind me.

"K-Kakashi-sensei?" I'd managed.

"Well... you seem to have a healthy respect for these people," Kakashi noted, before changing the topic, "I think it's time I actually show up for the exercise."

"What time is it?"

"Oh, it's 8:35," Kakashi casually replied, beginning to walk towards the center of the training ground.

"So much for 5AM..."

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way."

"...I won't doubt that."

Sometime later, we'd found Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi of course had been greeted with Naruto's declaration that Kakashi was late, while Sasuke glowered, especially after Kakashi's excuse.

"Well then, let's get started," Kakashi began. He pulled out a clock and set it on a stump, "its set for noon." A little over three hours then. "Your assignment is very simple: you just have to get these bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you can't get a bell, you go without lunch. You'll get tied to a post and watch while I eat my lunch in front of you."

"But wait, there's only two bells," Naruto yelled.

"Yes. That way, one of you will ultimately end up tied to the post and disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the Academy... then again; all three of you could flunk too. You can use any weapons or jutsu you have. If you aren't prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take these bells."

I looked toward the other two, both of them serious.

"When I say start, you can begin," Kakashi explained.

"Can we have the bells?" I asked.

"No. And I didn't say start."

"Alright then," I replied, before lowering my voice to talk to my teammates, "when he says start, we all go at him at the same time. Six sets of hands has a better chance than two,"

"Start," Kakashi said. Immediately, the three of us charged forward. Naruto's uncontrolled frenzy of blows providing a contrast to the trained styles that Sasuke and I both had. With the three of us all unable to lay a finger on the bells, let alone Kakashi-sensei, Naruto jumped back.

"The more hands, the better, right?" Naruto asked, before continuing, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" 20 more Narutos popped into existence, all of them charging towards Kakashi. The jounin kept dodging our blows as he popped clones out of existence.

"Lesson one: Taijutsu," Kakashi spoke, before appearing behind Sasuke.

"Look out," I yelled, too late for what was to come.

"1000 Years of Death!" Kakashi shouted, attacking Sasuke with the glorified ass poke. Sasuke went flying.

"Naruto, we'll regroup at Sasuke's position," I yelled, before withdrawing from the fight, leaving the Shadow Clones to deal with Kakashi alone.

"Rei, what was that?" Naruto asked as we ran toward Sasuke.

"It's a Taijutsu technique invented by the Second Hokage."

"No way!"

We found Sasuke by the river's shore. Not only soaked, but grimacing as he rubbed his backside.

"What's the plan," he asked.

"That's what we'll discuss," I replied, "Naruto, what jutsu do you know?"

"Oh, uh, Henge, Substitution, Shadow Clone, and Sexy," he replied.

"...Okay, those last two might work as a distraction. Sasuke, you know the Fireball jutsu, right?"

"Of course," he replied.

"Good. I know a couple wind techniques - perhaps Gust of Wind can help here."

"Man, what'd Kakashi-sensei do?" Naruto asked.

"He's the one who said come at him intending to kill," I replied, "Naruto, you distract Kakashi. Sasuke and I will attack on my signal."

"Alright, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, as almost 20 clones came into being, all of them charging towards Kakashi. 10 more jumped out of the river, apparently being formed there. All 30 of the Narutos stopped just short of Kakashi.

"Y'know, you'll have to make an attempt," Kakashi stated.

"Try this on for size, Harem Jutsu!" Naruto bellowed, as all of the Narutos transformed into nude women, smoke obscuring their private areas.

"Well, I see you've managed to combine the Henge with your Shadow Clones," Kakashi mentioned, unfazed by the attack. I gave the signal to Sasuke.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke yelled.

"Wind style: Gust of Wind!" I added.

Sasuke's fireball quickly turned into a firestorm that engulfed several shadow clones as well as Kakashi. When the flames cleared... Kakashi was gone. The remaining Narutos undid their transformations.

"Oh no, we went too far!" Naruto shouted.

"There's no way he'd be defeated like that," Sasuke responded.

I sensed something. "Naruto, look out!"

Naruto squawked as he was pulled into the ground, until only his head and neck were above it.

"Lesson three, Ninjutsu," Kakashi said, as he appeared behind Naruto's head. Well, this was a bad situation.

Kakashi crouched down and pulled out a kunai, spinning it in his hand before bringing it down on Naruto.

"Release!" I expelled. Naruto was still buried. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen, as was Sasuke. That must've been lesson two.

"Hold on Naruto, this could take a bit," I said, as I began to dig him out.

"How am I gonna get the bells like this?" Naruto asked.

"Hey, other Narutos, help me," I directed.

By the time I'd dug out Naruto, the remaining clones had disappeared (a few of them from their own squabbles), and Sasuke had returned.

"What's the plan now?" Sasuke asked.

"I have an idea, though I don't know if it'll work."

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, make three shadow clones and have them transform into the bells."

"He'll see through it instantly," Sasuke countered.

"Most likely, but it's worth a try. That and I'm not sure if there's enough time for a larger plan."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto called. Three clones appeared, before all three turned into exact replicas of Kakashi's bells. Each of us picked up a 'bell'. Once all three of us had picked up 'bells', Sasuke led us to where Kakashi was.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, do we pass?" Naruto hollered as he showed off the replica in his hand. Kakashi's hand almost moved to where his bells were before he responded.

"Well, that's a nice try, but I won't fall for it," he responded.

"Throw!" I called, as I threw my 'bell' at Kakashi. Naruto and Sasuke followed with their 'bells', as all three of them transformed into Narutos. The three Narutos were all popped soon after by Kakashi, but by then I'd gotten out additional kunai, throwing them as well. Naruto had thrown several shuriken and kunai of his own toward Kakashi, while Sasuke had pulled a large shuriken out of his pack.

"Demon Wind Shuriken!" Sasuke yelled, before throwing it at Kakashi. The overlarge shuriken sliced through the jounin - or rather, a log.

"Where'd he go?!" Naruto questioned.

I turned around just as Kakashi jumped from the trees.

"Times up," he said. It was noon already?!

"Wait, it's over?!" Naruto hollered. Sasuke grimaced.

"It is. And do you know what will happen since none of you got any of the bells?!" Kakashi roared.

"You pass," Kakashi added in a casual tone.

"We... wait what?" Naruto asked.

"What do you think the purpose of this test was?"

"Uh... to get us to work together?" Naruto sheepishly replied.

"Well, that's part of the reason. I attempted to set you against each other, tried to make you put your guard down, in order to see how the three of you would act. With two bells, one of you was guaranteed to fail. Could you put that aside for the mission?"

"Yeah, believe it!"

"You three could, but not every ninja can. Ninja who place themselves above the squad can lead a squad to failure or death. On every mission, your life is on the line. You've seen this stone, right?" Kakashi asked, pointing towards the memorial stone. I nodded. "These are ninja who are honored as heroes by our village. They're a special kind of hero, those who died in action. The names of my closest friends are engraved here."

"Woah..." Naruto muttered.

"Now then... the three of you had some interesting plans. How did they come about?"

I responded, "Well, I knew we stood no chance against you one on one, so I had my teammates help out."

"Go on…"

"Well, the first attempt was a simple attempt with Taijutsu. Perhaps we could've overwhelmed you. The second attempt came about because I knew that fire and air jutsu interacted with each other. I had Naruto's clones provide a distraction to try and hide our efforts. The third attempt came from Naruto's complaints about getting the bells. Maybe we could trick our opponents? The thrown weapons were a simple backup plan."

"Fair enough. I will admit that wasn't a bad plan with the fake bells. Alright, missions start tomorrow. As of today, we're now officially Squad 7!" Kakashi exclaimed, performing an exaggerated thumbs up pose, before he added, "oh, and you're free to go."

Kakashi disappeared.

"So guys, why don't we all go to my home?" I asked.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sure," Sasuke added.

"Alright, let's go," I said. Team 7s first visit to the Shimura Manor was to come.

* * *

 **End Rei 5**

 _So, originally I was going to have the Bell Test itself be a separate chapter, but then I felt it was too awkward to end it there, so that's how this chapter came to be. The fact that the anime includes the first half of the bell test in the same episode as the introductions helped sway my decision as well._

 _"If you want to avoid the whole bigger number thingy then don't use them in the first place." - AmethystPone_

 _That's a fair view on the matter. Though I feel you can totally have numbers without it turning into a 'who has the biggest numbers' festival. Even JoJo has stats after all._

 _"You gotta admit it would be pretty funny if Rei learned the Rasengan but pretended she made it up herself." - A guest_

 _That could be a fun omake, especially writing Danzo's reaction._

 _As usual, thanks for all the support, ladies and gentlemen!_


	10. Rei 6

Was it a good idea to bring Naruto and Sasuke here?

The rational part of my mind told me that Danzo wouldn't dare try anything against the Last Uchiha and the Hokage's adopted son, but... the Sharingarm was very hard to forget.

"C'mon, let's go!" Naruto called out, jostling me from my thoughts.

Sasuke and I walked over toward the entrance of my home, where Naruto was already standing. I opened the door and called out that I was home.

"Well, you're early," I heard dad say.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei said missions start tomorrow."

"I figured he'd be late with something like that."

"Wait, so he's late all the time?!" Naruto loudly asked.

My dad chuckled, "Oh yes, he'll find any excuse to procrastinate an appointment. The Hokage's the only one he bothers to be on time with."

Upon hearing that, Naruto slouched in resignation.

"You've succeeded," I heard an elderly voice state.

I turned to face Danzo. I wasn't expecting him to be here, honestly.

"Of course we did, there's no way he was gonna stop the next Hokage!" Naruto beamed.

"Next Hokage, huh?" Danzo muttered, a hint of a smile (?!) creeping onto his face.

"Yeah, once the old man retires, he'll give the hat to me!"

"Hehehe, you have a long way to go before becoming Hokage."

"Huh?"

"Every Hokage has had years of experience in being a ninja and teacher. You won't even be considered without that experience."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm stating that your goal will take a long time to reach. Even then there's no guarantee that they'll choose you."

Naruto looked like he was about to argue, but stopped.

"Say, you're as old as the old man, right?" Naruto asked, not pausing at all despite the gaping expression on Sasuke's face, accompanied the slight shock evident on both mine and my dad's faces, "you must've known my parents, right?"

Danzo's slight smile though hadn't receded, despite Naruto's silver tongue.

"Yes, I knew your parents. Quite well, in fact. They were good ninja, courageous warriors who loved Konoha and were in turn loved by it. They gave everything for Konoha, even their lives."

"Wow..."

"They would be proud of you, Naruto, if they were here," Danzo stated. That was... accurate. Everything Danzo said was completely true, even if in the certain point of view sense. He's also completely avoided all the classified stuff.

"Really?"

"Yes. However..."

"Huh?"

"If you intend to be Hokage, you will need to improve how you speak to your elders. Speaking in such a disrespectful tone will hardly endear you others, even without intended malice."

"Eheheh..." was the only way Naruto could respond.

* * *

Mom came home a little later than expected, about halfway through Naruto's dramatic retelling of the bell test.

Naruto's insistence on making it larger than life was fortunately countered by Sasuke trying to keep it accurate to how it happened... though the Uchiha grimaced when Naruto reached the part where Kakashi used the 1000 Years of Death.

Naruto insisted that he'd get Kakashi-sensei to teach him the technique, especially when Danzo confirmed that it was indeed a technique invented by Tobirama Senju. As Naruto continued through his retelling he was interrupted.

"How did you get the idea that this 'Harem Jutsu' would work?" Danzo asked, his face currently settled into a neutral expression.

"Well, it works against Clo-Ebisu," Naruto replied.

"When you say Ebisu, you don't mean the Hokage's grandson's tutor, right?" my dad asked.

"It is that guy, believe it!" Naruto responded, leading to a short silence.

"... how?" my mom asked.

"Well, sometimes Konohamaru doesn't want to learn from Ebisu, so he gets my help to beat him. I use the Sexy jutsu and he just sits with his mouth open and a nosebleed and then he runs away."

"Continue where you left off," Sasuke ordered.

"Oh right, well, after Kakashi didn't react at all to my Harem Jutsu..." Naruto continued on.

My parents seemed to like my teammates, Naruto's antics aside. I'm sure Danzo has some sort of interest in my teammates, but I doubt they'd get disappeared into ROOT - even Danzo would want to prevent too much insight into his activities, after all.

As Naruto continued, I had the feeling things would start looking up.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke had left at some point after evening came. It'd been several hours of the team bonding.

I sensed Danzo approaching.

"Grandfather?" I asked.

"Rei, I've heard of your... ambition," Danzo announced. Had I gone a bit far with that?

"What about it?"

"I won't attempt to dissuade you from such a goal, but I will bring you a warning. I once held an ambition similar to yours. It was an ambition I was forced to abandon."

"Forced?"

"My ambition to save lives came to a contrast with the realities of being a ninja. I reconsidered what I was fighting for."

"Oh."

"Perhaps you'll come to see things the same way. Perhaps you won't."

"I'll keep my ambition," I stated.

"I thought you would say that. I suppose I should wish you luck."

"Thanks?"

"You don't need to thank me," he simply stated, as he turned away.

Danzo had a dream like mine. A dream to save lives. What had happened to that dream? When had he lost that dream? Had that dream died with Kagami? With Naoko?

When did a man who sought to save lives turn into a ruthless politician who acted without morals?

* * *

 **End Rei 6**

 _Next Chapter's gonna start the Land of Waves. It'll be a longish chapter. This chapter's here for the sake of having some fluff with Team 7 as well as a slight break between the Bell Test and Land of Waves. I wanted to include a scene with the Konohamaru trio, but couldn't find a good point to toss them in, so that'll have to come after the Land of Waves._

 _"I wonder if Danzo will assess her teammates." - Girl-Luvs-Manga_

 _Oh he is. I won't provide too much insight into what he's thinking, but he's studying Team 7, both as individuals and as a unit._

 _"Hmmm..Let's see if Rei can..."persuade" Kakashi to sneak in some proper training or lessons for the group._

 _And probably bribe Naruto with the secrets of Shadow Clone (And how to tactically use them) to have him teach her. I'm pretty sure it's more than doing the handseal, make constipated face and push the chakra." - AmethystPone_

 _Kakashi will do some proper teaching, at least a little more than in canon (though that might not be such a high mark). As for Naruto (or Kakashi) teaching Rei (and maybe Sasuke) the Shadow Clone jutsu, well, I'll see how that goes. Naruto learned it instantly, but that's more to do with typical shounen hero traits (see also Naruto learning the Rasengan in a month or Goku learning the Kamehameha (stated to take 50 years to learn) instantly). I won't say yes or no to Rei and Sasuke learning the Shadow Clones though. Yet._

 _Anyways, as usual, thanks for the support, and I hope you've all enjoyed this!_


	11. Rei 7

"No way, old man, I want a real mission, not some... some chores!" Naruto whined. Over the past five days, we'd done ten D-rank missions. None of them challenging, all of them varying shades of tediousness (maybe exempting Tora, but that's its own beast).

"Look Naruto, everyone starts out with simple D-rank missions, it's a simple way to build teamwork and experience," Mizuki responded from behind the mission desk.

For some reason, something in the back of my mind was bothered by this.

"C'mon, we've done more than enough D-rank missions, let's do something cool for once!"

Before Mizuki could reply, the Hokage cleared his throat, "Your team has succeeded with all of your previous missions, perhaps you're ready for a C-rank. You'll be bodyguards on a journey."

"Who is it? Are we guarding a king or an admiral?" Naruto asked. Perhaps it'd be a sultan instead.

"Don't be so impatient. Send in our visitor," the Hokage stated. As if on command, the door behind us opened.

"What the? A bunch of brats?" the old man - Tazuna - observed. He had grey hair alongside brown clothes, the pants slightly caked in dust. His tanned skin told us that he'd spent many, many hours in the sun. He held a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"And you, the little one with the idiotic outfit, do you really expect me to believe you're a ninja?" he added.

Sasuke had his blue shirt and white shorts, I had a dark green shirt and blue pants, and Naruto had his garishly orange ensemble. And he was the shortest one of us. The realization set in.

"Hey, don't insult my outfit!" Naruto yelled back.

Kakashi simply sighed, an action Mizuki mimicked.

"I am Tazuna, a master bridge builder who must return to his country. I'm building a bridge that will change our world and I expect you to get me there safely, even if it means giving up your life."

"Well, you don't need to worry Tazuna. My students may be Genin, but I'm a Jounin, an elite ninja. We'll keep you safe," Kakashi stated, before opening the mission scroll, "this mission will be a fairly long one. We'll be traveling to Wave Country, which is to the east of the Land of Fire. Since we're traveling at a civilian's pace, it'll take a week to reach there. Our mission also includes guarding the bridge and workers until its completion, which will take several more weeks. Remember that when packing. Meet me at the main gate in two hours."

"Yes sensei," the three of us responded.

After leaving the mission desk, the three of us went our separate ways. I arrived home soon enough, announcing myself.

"Hey Rei," I heard Shinji's voice call out.

"Hi Shinji, I've got a C-rank mission."

"Already? Isn't it a little early for that?"

"The Hokage thinks we're ready."

"Well, I won't argue then. How long will it take?"

"About a month, give or take a couple weeks. We're traveling to the Land of Waves and supervising a bridge's construction."

"Sounds fun," Shinji replied dryly.

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, as I began to pack.

Once I'd packed, I showed what I had to Shinji. He simply nodded in approval.

"Be safe out there," he said.

"I'll be back, don't worry," I responded before leaving the house.

I arrived on time to find Naruto and Sasuke had arrived first. Tazuna of course was also waiting for us. Kakashi, as usual, was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Kakashi-sensei? I can't believe he'd be late for this!" Naruto complained.

"He's late for everything else," Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah, but this is a real mission, not a glorified chore!"

"I'm feeling safer already," Tazuna muttered.

"They get like that on occasion," I responded.

"Like what?" Naruto questioned.

"Well, it's good to see everyone getting along," Kakashi stated, appearing from nowhere.

"You're late!"

"Sorry I took so long, there was a rock in the road."

"A rock?"

"It was a big rock. Now let's be on our way."

As we left Konoha, Naruto's mood immediately brightened.

"Yeah, this is the first time I've ever left the village! I'm a traveler now, believe it!" Naruto all but yelled.

As he said this, I sensed something to our right. Chakra signatures to our right, ones I didn't recognize. I was willing to ignore them until they followed us out of the village.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, have you ever been to the Land of Waves?" I asked.

"I haven't. I can tell you some general information, but anything specific you'll need to ask Tazuna," he replied.

"Alright, so what's the general information?"

"Well, the Land of Waves is a small country on a series of islands. Unlike our Land of Fire, they don't possess a ninja village and thus rely on outside help from other ninja villages."

"What about their economy?"

"Their economy, at least last I heard, is reliant primarily on fishing as well as trade. They're able to sell excess crops and fish to other nations and profit off of that."

The foreign chakra fell out of my sensing range. I held up two fingers before continuing my message in Konoha's sign language ' _foreign chakra, following us since Konoha'_. Naruto and Sasuke focused. Kakashi simply nodded in response. I took the rear guard.

 _'What's the plan?'_ Sasuke motioned.

 _'If they attack, determine who they're after,'_ Kakashi replied.

"So Tazuna, how's life in the Land of Waves?" I wondered.

"Lousy. Ever since Gato Transport took hold, things have gotten worse and worse. It's super bad right now."

"What did Gato do?"

"He's taken total control of the economy and government. He made himself the leader of Wave Country after removing our previous leader. He's also impounded our fishing boats, forcing us to use his, while he gets a cut of our profits. We've had less and less food, and any exports that do happen go directly to his pocket."

"Gato sounds more like a petty despot than a shipping magnate."

"He is. His iron grip strangles the Land of Waves; he intends to choke the life out of it."

"And that's why you're building the bridge."

"Yes. The bridge will be free of Gato's control over shipping. It's the key to the Land of Waves' survival."

"And Gato doesn't want this bridge?"

"Of course not, it would cut on his profits he gets from controlling the waterways." Apparently, the concept of a toll booth was foreign to Gato.

"And so you hired us because you believe Gato would want you killed."

"I know Gato would want me killed. He's killed people who stood against him before."

I thought about what I remembered. Tazuna had lied about the dangers the mission possessed, but that was because an A-rank mission was at least an order of magnitude more expensive than a C-rank. With how little money Wave Country had, I doubt the entirety of the Land of Waves could get enough money for an A-rank. Zabuza and Haku would show up later. They were preceded by someone else though, probably that foreign chakra.

About an hour before nightfall, we'd set up camp for the night. We ate dinner (Naruto went and found a rabbit), set up a fire (thanks to Sasuke), and I set up a couple of traps around the perimeter. We'd been taught all this stuff at the academy, in equal parts to teach us essential survival tactics and to desensitize us to violence.

All things considered, it's for the better they teach us that stuff (at least, from a strictly technical standpoint). We'd settled on a watch schedule: I'd start, Naruto would take middle-watch, and Sasuke would take dawn.

I sensed that foreign chakra again. I leveled a glare in its direction. The foreign chakra disappeared. Seems they got the message, or at least, a message.

Our 'companions' stayed away for the rest of the time I was awake. It came time to shift watchmen.

"Hey Naruto, your turn," I said. He slept. I repeated myself slightly louder. He remained asleep. I poked him with a stick. He woke up.

"Wha-what?"

"You're turn to watch," I stated.

"Oh, right," he replied, before standing up and creating some shadow clones. One of these days I need to learn that. I settled down on the ground.

"Hey Rei," Naruto asked.

"What is it?" I replied.

"Y'know how Old Man Shimura said my parents died for Konoha?"

"Yeah?"

"And how Kakashi-sensei said that ninja who died in action were on that rock?" Oh I see where he's going.

"You think they're on that rock?"

"Yeah, they gotta be."

Naruto's logic made sense. Minato and Kushina did die in action, so logically they'd be on the memorial stone. Kakashi-sensei also said all his closest friends had their names on that stone, further lending support to that theory.

But what would people think of the fact that Naruto was researching his family? His family who's very identities were hidden away from him?

I fell asleep as I reflected on this.

We continued on our journey an hour and a half after dawn, Tazuna willing to get up early and help us clean up. After that, we continued on our journey.

"Hey, old man," Naruto asked.

"I have a name, squirt," Tazuna replied.

"Hey Tazuna, what's your family like?"

"Why're you asking?"

"I just wanna know, c'mon!"

"Settle down, kid. I live with my daughter and grandson; they're both very dear to me."

"What's your grandson like?"

"He's a little younger than you kids, eight years old. To be honest, even he's suffered under Gato."

"How?"

Tazuna sighed before continuing, "I... had a son-in-law."

"Oh."

"Gato killed him when he tried to resist. Ever since then, my grandson has been depressed."

"GET DOWN TAZUNA," I yelled, tackling him.

Chains flew through the air, wrapping themselves around Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi made several pained grunts as the chains dug into him, until they cut him to pieces. Had I not tackled Tazuna, he'd have been in between those chains.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted.

Our attackers drew back their chains, preparing to attack once more. Sasuke threw a kunai in between one of the chain's links, leaving them immobile. I stood up next to Tazuna.

"Wind style: Wind Fist!" I yelled, forming a large fist which slammed into the two-horned enemy, sending him flying.

"You're next!" One-horn said to me as he disconnected himself from his chain and charged. Sasuke appeared in front of me and slammed his foot into One-horn's cheek, sending him flying.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," I heard Naruto shout. Several Narutos charged at both of our enemies, and while they didn't achieve much on their own, they worked as a distraction.

"Wind Fist!" I shouted, sending another one hurtling toward Two-horns as he struggled with a trio of Narutos.

And then Kakashi-sensei appeared and hit One-horn with a chop to the neck, knocking him out.

Two-horns looked up and saw Kakashi holding his knocked-out partner. He somehow got the idea to charge forward anyway. I sent another Wind Fist his way, knocking him out.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted.

"Tazuna, we need to talk," Kakashi bluntly stated.

Once Kakashi tied up our attackers, he began to explain the situation, "They're chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack; they keep fighting no matter the sacrifice."

"We would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for that sensor," Two-horns complained, having woken up by now.

"Why'd you leave it for the Genin to do the fighting?" Tazuna questioned.

"I could have taken them out quickly, but then I'd have learned nothing. I had to know who their target was, and what they were after."

"What are you getting at?"

"I wanted to know if they were after us - ninja attacking ninja - or if they were after you: the master bridge builder. When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection from robbers and highwaymen. You didn't say there were ninja looking for you. If we knew this, this would be a B-rank mission or higher. I understand you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We're now beyond the scope of this mission."

"We beat these guys like they were nothing, we can take on whatever this mission throws at us!" Naruto bragged, ignoring an indignant objection from Two-horns.

"A ninja doesn't get stronger by running away," Sasuke stated.

"I say we keep going then," I decided. In the original story, things turned out fine. Except now I was living it and I knew Haku and Zabuza were well beyond us. Yet, it wouldn't feel right to not help Tazuna.

"Well Tazuna, looks like we'll be proceeding with the mission after all. How lucky," Kakashi continued, "but before we leave..." Kakashi put his hands together and created a clone standing next to him. The two wordlessly nodded and the clone sped towards Konoha.

"Leaf ninja will be here soon to take these two in," Kakashi-sensei explained, "I suppose we should get going before much longer."

"Uh, r-right," Tazuna sputtered out.

It was very fortunate Tazuna hadn't been assigned to Team 8 or 10. Neither of them would've continued the mission. Kakashi believed in us, probably because he'd been doing A-ranks at our age.

Fortunately, the next few days proceeded without incident, despite the nagging feeling we were being watched. My chakra sense didn't sense anything unusual though.

I recalled that humans had some sort of instinct that allowed them to know when someone was watching them. In the previous world, something like that never really came up, but in this world...

Our journey brought us to the ocean shore, with fog thick enough that one could hardly see through it. A man with a small motorboat and a paddle waited for us.

Given that he drove a motorboat with a paddle rather than the completely usable motor, this was probably an illegal expedition.

"The bridge should be visible soon. When we reach the side of the bridge, we'll be in the Land of Waves," the rower mentioned.

True to his word, the work in progress bridge soon became visible. Something of this scale... I'm surprised Gato let so much work be done on the bridge before he stepped in. Unless he did it to crush their hopes when they almost succeeded, in which case, it made total sense.

"Wow, it's so big," Naruto stated, in a somewhat subdued tone.

"Tazuna, so far it appears we've been overlooked."

"Thank you," the old bridge builder responded.

A smaller bridge appeared that linked two of the islands together. Once we went through, the fog completely disappeared, revealing a small oceanside town, with mangrove trees appearing throughout the water. Once we reached the shore, we exited the boat.

"This is as far as I go. Take care of yourself."

"Thanks for taking such a risk, I shouldn't have asked it of you," Tazuna stated, to which the boat-rower wordlessly nodded before speeding away on his boat.

"Now, get me home safely," he told us. Of course we were still about a day from his home, Naruto and Sasuke were starting to get competitive, and - Oh, _hello there._ I threw a kunai to my right.

The chakra to my right disappeared before the kunai left my hand, but they definitely got the message. Where the enemy once was was a small, scared, white rabbit.

"Hey, what's going on?" Tazuna demanded.

"Rei, what-" Naruto began.

"Someone's following us," I replied.

"But it's just a rabbit!"

"That's no ordinary rabbit."

"You got us worked up for-," Tazuna began.

"Get down!" Kakashi-sensei shouted. Naruto and Sasuke complied while I once again tackled Tazuna to the ground. A huge sword swirled above us, narrowly missing us before lodging itself into a tree. And standing upon that sword -

"Zabuza Momochi, rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist," Kakashi stated. He continued on, "Stay back, he's not like those other ninja. He's in a whole other league. If he's our opponent, I'll need this."

"The Sharingan," Sasuke whispered.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye... did I get that right? It's too bad, but you'll have to hand over the old man."

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Kakashi replied.

"So be it."

"Quick, Manji Formation. Protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight!" he ordered. I settled into a position to Tazuna's right as Kakashi raised his headband.

"Looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honor. In the Assassination Unit of the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to kill you on sight. Your profile was in our bingo book; it called you the man who copied over a thousand jutsu, Kakashi the copy-ninja. But enough talk, I need to exterminate the old man," Zabuza stated. Tazuna's fear was plainly evident on his face, and Naruto and Sasuke both rushed to complete the formation that Kakashi had ordered. Fog began to roll in.

"I won't make it easy," Kakashi replied.

"I'd hope not," Zabuza said, before jumping off the tree and landing on top of the lake, "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

And then he disappeared.

"This mist is getting thicker," Naruto pointed out.

"The Land of Waves is surrounded by ocean, the swirling mists are ever-present," Tazuna explained.

"This is no ordinary mist," I interjected, "this is part of Zabuza's jutsu. It even restricts my sensory abilities, since this mist is part of a jutsu and thus, filled with chakra."

"Who is this guy, anyway?" Naruto asked.

"He's Zabuza Momochi, one of Kiri's famed Seven Swordsmen and the former leader of their Assassination Unit... until he tried to kill the Mizukage. He's most well-known for his Silent Killing Technique, an instant death attack so fast that the victims don't realize what's happened."

"Not even the Sharingan can fully neutralize this technique," Kakashi explained, "so don't. Lower. Your. Guard."

Kakashi took his position in front of our team. Would Zabuza go for him first? Kakashi believed so; I suppose he expects Zabuza to take out the greatest threat first. But what about Tazuna? The mist kept getting thicker, blocking even Kakashi from our views, despite him being maybe 10 feet away.

"Eight points: Larynx, Spine, Lungs, Liver, Jugular, Subclavian Artery, Kidneys, Heart... now, which will be my kill point?"

Zabuza's intent to kill was clear. Kakashi's own intent to kill Zabuza equally clear. It was...

"Keep it cool, guys. We'll get through this," I said. Whether I was trying to convince the others or myself, I didn't know. I raised my kunai in preparation for what was to come, the way Shinji always did.

"Don't worry, I'll protect all of you. I won't let my comrades die, trust me," Kakashi stated. Naruto and Sasuke were visibly calmed by this, but - _that chakra, how the fuck-_

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Zabuza stated, _in between all of us._

I wheeled around as fast as I could, intent on driving my kunai somewhere where it'd hurt. Naruto and Sasuke turned around after I did. Tazuna only began to jump away, but a normal guy like him wouldn't make it.

Zabuza dodged my kunai, but not Kakashi's. Kakashi-sensei closed the distance in an instant, ramming his knife through Zabuza's heart.

"Well, isn't that - water," I interrupted myself.

"Behind you!" Naruto shouted. _Oh shit shit shit-_

Kakashi wheeled around and blocked Zabuza's sword with his kunai. Even without him saying anything, I backed away from the two jounin. This fight was way beyond me. Zabuza's initial swing had been blocked, but not his next - it cleanly bisected Kakashi's water clone.

Kakashi appeared from behind Zabuza, only for his next attack to be blocked. The fight continued like this, the two of them engaged in a clash of weapons, punctuated with fists, until a strong kick from Zabuza sent Kakashi-sensei - _ah hell -_ into the water.

"Water Prison Jutsu!" Zabuza stated, trapping our drenched sensei inside a sphere of liquid, "this sphere is made of water, but it's stronger than steel. So much for the great Kakashi Hatake. I'll finish you off later, but first your little friends will have to be eliminated. Water Clone Jutsu!"

A clone of Zabuza came out of the water and glared at us. Seems we'll get that trial by fire after all...

* * *

 **End Rei 7**

 _Yeah, my original plan was to include the entire first fight with Zabuza in this chapter... I decided that it might be better to split part of it off._

 _"It really does make you think, what tragedy could have changed danzo into what is now?" - Yutyrannus_

 _"Rei's question seems like something you'll answer in the future. I'm curious." - Girl-luvs-Manga_

 _We'll reach that eventually. Wouldn't wanna spoil my own fic, would I?_

 _"Ahhh...The lovely "corruption-by-war/hatred" that happened to Obito, Madara (Hashirama, even. What's with the whole Bijuu debacle) had happened to Danzo..._  
 _They genuinely believe that what they are doing is the correct thing to do, but to other people, it isn't._  
 _Naruto-verse is quite the sad place." - AmethystPone_

 _Yeah, it be like that sometimes. With the Naruto world having 4 World Wars in less than a century, there's a lot of tragedy, which leads to a lot of extremists with good intentions as well as outright people who just want to take over the world (of course!)._

 _As always, thanks for reading and enjoying this fanfic!_


	12. Rei 8

_TFW Silver Queen (author of Dreaming of Sunshine) has your mom as one of her favorite authors._

 **Begin Rei 8  
**

* * *

On our side, we were three kids - maybe better prepared for this than the original Team 7, but still no match for one of the Seven Swordsmen.

"W-What's the plan?" Naruto asked me. Protect Tazuna. Rescue Kakashi. Keep us alive. How to achieve all that?

"You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja? Brats. When's you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you anymore, then you may be a ninja. When you've become so deadly your profile is written in my bingo book, then you've earned the title ninja. But to call upstarts like you ninja is a joke."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, tens of Narutos rushed towards Zabuza.

"Our goals are to get Kakashi-sensei out of that prison and to keep Tazuna alive," I told my squadmates, "if the real Zabuza moves, then that jutsu will break. Good call with the clones, Naruto."

"So how do we make him move?" Sasuke asked.

Zabuza shouted as the mass of Narutos exploded outward, quickly turning into smoke. Out of the cloud of smoke came Zabuza, kicking Naruto and knocking off his headband.

"Brats like you don't deserve to be called ninja," the clone uttered, punctuating his statement by stepping on Naruto's headband.

"Listen," Kakashi began, "get the bridge builder and run! You can't win this fight. He's using all his power to keep me in this prison; he can only fight you with his clone, and the clone can't go far from his body. Now run!"

How long could someone breathe underwater? The figure that came to mind was 10 minutes, but I doubted it. Still, we'd spent one of those minutes already, haven't we?

"We can't run, we have to fight," I heard Sasuke growl, moments before charging forward.

"Naruto, watch Tazuna and make some clones!" I added.

"Right, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled.

The water clone had to contend with what seemed to be over a hundred Narutos, with me and Sasuke getting involved too. Could the water clone take us all on?

"Cheap tricks like that won't save you," Zabuza growled, pulling out his sword.

Sasuke and I fell back, converging at the real Naruto's position with Tazuna while letting the clones handle Zabuza.

"Those clones won't work," Sasuke stated.

"Those clones won't, but I have an idea. Remember the bell test?" I asked.

"What's that got to do with now?" Naruto questioned.

"Let's try the final attempt again." Naruto and Sasuke both knew what I meant and nodded.

"What's going on now?" Tazuna asked.

"You'll see," I replied, "Naruto, Sasuke, it's your turn."

"Alright, let's get started! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" One Naruto became fifty, and fifty Narutos charged toward the swordsman. And while Zabuza was pre-occupied, Sasuke ran around the chaos to strike at the real Zabuza.

"Wind style: Air Cutter!" I yelled, sending a sharpened blade of wind at Zabuza - the real Zabuza, making sure to aim low. An obvious attack like that wouldn't work against him - but that wasn't the point.

Sasuke made his move, sending a Fuma Shuriken hurtling toward Zabuza's upper body, forcing Zabuza to avoid two attacks at once. I noticed the second Fuma Shuriken, flying in the shadow of the first. Zabuza's left hand caught the first, but the second -

"Gotcha!"

Transformed into a Naruto and grabbed Zabuza's right arm.

"Naruto, what are you doing?!" Kakashi called out.

"Damn brat!" Zabuza roared, trying in vain to shake Naruto off without disrupting his jutsu. And then I sent an Air Fist his way. Growling with anger, he jumped to his left. Naruto let go of Zabuza's arm and was sent skidding across the lake - wait, that's the real Naruto. Goddamnit. Zabuza began spinning the Fuma Shuriken in his left hand.

And then Kakashi blocked it with an angry scowl on his face, his intent to kill Zabuza surging.

"Tazuna, brace yourself, things are about to get rough," I recommended.

"Hasn't it already been rough?" he replied. Good point.

"Well, you're not wrong... speaking of which," I turned toward where Zabuza's clone was. Several Narutos flew away from him, vanishing into smoke. On the outer edge of the circle was Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I have an idea!" I yelled.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Wind and Fire!"

"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Wind style: Gust of Wind!"

A fireball became a firestorm, consuming all the clones that were there. When the smoke cleared, Zabuza's water clone was gone too.

"He's gone," Tazuna observed. I reached out with my senses... only the original Zabuza... and someone lurking - oh wait, that's Naruto.

"Hey guys," Naruto shouted, completely soaked. Oh, alright. Wait, there's still something else in the woods.

"Okay, we're all accounted for," I said. Two water dragons clashed in the lake, ultimately canceling each other out before crumbling away and flooding the area with excess water. Man, Kakashi and Zabuza aren't holding anything back now.

"You're a pale imitation, I'm the genuine article, no mere copycat stands against me!" Zabuza yelled.

The two jounin continued their hand signs, Kakashi wordlessly copying Zabuza. Ninja battles weren't just physical strength, but also a battle of the minds, and this battle-

"You mimic me like a parrot! I'll shut your mouth for good!" Zabuza roared. Kakashi had won the battle of the minds.

"Water style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted, summoning forth another liquid dragon, this time with nothing to oppose it. The attack slammed into Zabuza, sending him out of the lake and into a tree.

That chakra in the forest acted - not toward Tazuna, fortunately. Two senbon pierced Zabuza's neck, causing him to unceremoniously drop to the ground.

"Is he dead?" Tazuna asked... let's find out. I reached out with my sensing. His chakra had disappeared... no, not quite... there was the tiniest sliver, smaller than even most animals. But Zabuza was still alive right now.

"What's that ninja saying?" Naruto asked.

"Let's stay back. Just because they're Zabuza's enemy doesn't make them our ally," I replied, "besides, if we focus, we can hear their discussion."

"I see you're a hunter nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist," Kakashi stated.

"Correct. It was my duty to hunt down Zabuza."

"Indeed, take him," Kakashi responded. Haku teleported down from the tree in a flashy gust of wind.

"Farewell," he said, before disappearing with the body in that gust of wind again.

"Right then. We're going to talk about this fight when we reach Tazuna's home," Kakashi stated, before falling unconscious.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screamed. I rushed over to Kakashi to check on him... I didn't have any medical training this life or the last. He had a pulse though... and way too little chakra. That Sharingan eye takes a lot of chakra... that'll probably be the case for Sasuke too, but he can turn his off.

"Is he going to be alright?" Tazuna asked.

"Well, he has a few cuts from fighting Zabuza and he has chakra exhaustion," I replied. The chakra exhaustion would be troubling, but there wasn't anything I could _do_ about it.

"Will he be alright?" Naruto asked.

"If it's not critical, then all he'll need is some rest," Sasuke responded.

"He'll be up with a good night's sleep," I reinforced, before picking up sensei. He was lighter than I expected a full-grown ninja to be, "are you guys alright?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke bluntly stated.

"I've got a headache, but I'm alright, believe it!" Naruto added.

"Alright Tazuna, you lead the way," I said.

The journey proceeded without any incident for some time before conversation continued.

"Hold on, who was that guy?"

"What guy?"

"That guy who took down Zabuza like it was nothing!"

"Supposedly he's a hunter nin with Mist."

"'Supposedly?'"

"I don't believe him. If he really was a hunter nin, then why not dispose of the body right there? Furthermore, Zabuza said that Kiri had a kill on sight order for Kakashi, yet that Hunter did nothing. Why is that?"

"Maybe he didn't want to get on Kakashi's bad side?"

"When's he already exhausted?" Sasuke pointed out.

"It's possible the hunter nin didn't know how low Kakashi's reserves were. Besides, disposing the body as soon as possible is standard procedure. For him not to do that means either he's disregarding the procedures for some reason, or that he's working with Zabuza."

"How?" Sasuke pressed.

"Senbon can be thrown with such accuracy that just about any body part can be hit. This accuracy can enable the thrower to place the target close to death."

"So he's alive," Sasuke concluded.

"Yes. It was faint, but he had a chakra signature. It would've fooled anyone else."

"Oh no...," Tazuna muttered.

"Don't worry, he won't be back for a while," I replied.

"I can't believe we just let that guy get away!" Naruto announced.

"It's frustrating, I know, but stopping him would've been impossible. Besides, we're all safe."

The other two fell quiet, unable to really argue... Kakashi-sensei was starting to get heavy.

"Hey, which one of you wants to carry Kakashi-sensei?" I asked.

"I will!" Naruto replied.

* * *

We arrived at Tazuna's house by evening. Kakashi was put in Tazuna's guest room while we eagerly waited for Tazuna's daughter – Tsunami - to make dinner - ration bars for a week would leave you craving literally anything else.

There was a kid too - he came quickly to collect dinner, and disappeared upstairs just as quickly. Strange.

Still, dinner was the best meal I'd had in over a week. We could take it relatively easy, at least in the sense that we had a roof over our heads and beds to sleep on.

Evening turned to night turned to day.

The next day we waited in the guest room for Kakashi-sensei to wake up.

"Hey, what's under that mask?" Naruto asked.

"Probably his face," I replied.

"... but what's on his face that makes him hide it? Maybe it's a set of buckteeth."

"He's waking up," Sasuke interrupted.

"Oh, my cute little genin are here," Kakashi declared.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled.

"How long was I out?"

"Since yesterday," I answered.

"Well... I had a bad feeling about Zabuza."

"Rei told us," Sasuke interjected.

"... then I don't need explain anything about him, how about the hunter nin?" Kakashi asked.

"Rei said that he was working with Zabuza!" Naruto said.

"Right then. What else... oh yeah, your fight with Zabuza," Kakashi stated... I think the temperature just dropped. "Even though I told you to take the bridge builder and run, you stayed and fought Zabuza... though I underestimated you guys, you still made more risks than you should have, especially you Naruto - clinging onto his arm like that when you could've just thrown a weapon."

"But it worked!" Naruto retorted.

"Only because Zabuza's movement was restricted. Next time, we won't have that luxury. Still, you guys did show plenty of teamwork and knowledge, so I know just what to reward you guys with!"

"What is it?!"

"More training!" Kakashi said, his visible eye closed in a smile.

"Eh, really?"

"What about Zabuza?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, since his body's been placed in a death-like state, it'll take some time for it to recover. In that time, he won't be willing to attack, not unless he wants to face me at less than full strength," Kakashi answered.

"What about that fake hunter nin? How is he so strong?" Naruto asked.

"In this world, Naruto, there are people younger than you who are stronger than me," Kakashi declared. Right, he had been a jounin at our age.

"When do we start?" I questioned.

"Well, follow me!" Kakashi replied.

* * *

"I don't think a review on chakra will be necessary for this, right?" Kakashi asked. We'd been brought out into a forested area relatively close to Tazuna's house.

"I don't need it," I responded. I wasn't so sure about my teammates though, but...

"In that case, I'll move on to the next part. I'll be teaching you three a vital skill on controlling your chakra. We'll be climbing trees, but without using our arms," Kakashi explained.

"Without our hands?! No way!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Is that so?" Kakashi asked, focusing his chakra to his feet for his demonstration. He slowly walked up the tree with just his feet, eventually reaching a branch and standing upside down on it to further prove his point. "Well, you get the idea, focus your chakra to the soles of your feet and use it to connect to the tree."

"How's this gonna help us fight Zabuza?" Naruto asked.

I cleared my throat, "This exercise will allow us to control our chakra more efficiently, allowing us to perform more jutsu before we run out. Better chakra control also opens up more options in or out of a fight and allows a ninja to use more techniques. You can't become Hokage with just the academy standards and a few other jutsu," I lectured.

"Well explained Rei," Kakashi commented, tossing the three of us a kunai each "use these kunai knives to mark how high you can go on the tree without using your hands. Then try and get past that mark the next time."

The three of us focused our chakra. I moved forward first at little more than a jog, claiming a tree to my right. Naruto and Sasuke charged forward soon after. Naruto only made it five steps before tumbling down to the ground, arms around his head. Sasuke made it further, taking ten steps before the wood under his feet buckled inward and forced him off. And I made it to the top, more or less.

"Well, I suppose it does make sense that Rei makes it first, given her other chakra talents," Kakashi mentioned (what did he mean by this?), "you two keep at it, I suppose it's time Rei takes the next step in chakra control." Water-walking already? Huh.

Kakashi led me to the ocean shore, "now, the theory here is the same as before, but the water's surface is not only a non-solid surface, but is constantly shifting under you. As such, this is a much more difficult test."

"I see... what did you mean by that earlier comment though?"

"You're a sensor-type, aren't you?" Kakashi answered, scoring a bingo.

"... yeah, I apologize for not being forward about that."

"It does make sense why you'd hide that. Sensors are rare and thus highly sought out, but due to this factor, they live even more dangerous lives than most shinobi."

"Yeah," I replied, before focusing my chakra to my feet. I walked out onto the water, and while it was a little awkward, I - woah, I managed to walk on water.

"Well... you've managed to accomplish this too... jeez, I suppose once Naruto and Sasuke accomplish tree-walking, you can give them some pointers."

"So Kakashi-sensei, what's next?" I wondered.

"Hmm... ordinarily I'd take this to the next level with more treacherous water, but I'm still lower on Chakra than I'd like."

"I see... how about a plan for the bridge-guarding?"

"Good idea, let's go collect the other two."

"Yeah, knowing them they'd have turned this into a contest or something."

We made our way back to the forest clearing where we'd left Naruto and Sasuke. Both of their trees had progressively escalating kunai scratches into them, but neither of the boys had reached the top yet.

"I see you've progressed well," Kakashi stated.

"Of course I did, believe it!" Naruto replied. Sasuke just grunted in response.

"As fun as this is, we'll need a plan for how to guard the bridge."

"Alright, some action!"

"So Rei, what's the plan?" Kakashi asked me, for some reason. Well, let's get started.

"Well, I think the best plan is for Kakashi to be at Tazuna's location at all times. Since he's Gato's target, then any dangerous guys that he hires will go to him. When Tazuna works on the bridge, two of us genin will accompany him and Kakashi-sensei. One of us will stay at his home, since I wouldn't put it past Gato to target Tazuna's family."

"So who's gonna be on the bridge?" Naruto asked.

"My idea was that it would alternate between us. First day would be Naruto and Sasuke, then the next day Naruto and myself, then after that Sasuke and I. In addition, we should scout out the area with Naruto's shadow clones. There's never a disadvantage to knowing the terrain. And finally, Kakashi-sensei, when can we expect to see our eyebrow-less friend again?"

"Given Zabuza's injuries, we have at least a week. Not a bad plan," Kakashi-sensei responded.

"Thanks sensei," I replied.

"What about the hunter nin?" Sasuke asked.

"That's the biggest problem. Beyond his high accuracy with senbon, his abilities are unknown, making it basically impossible to plan for him. I suspect he might accompany Zabuza though, but we shouldn't remove the possibility of him acting alone."

Sasuke hmmed at this. Naruto didn't have anything to say and it seemed Kakashi had no objections. We had a plan for our mission. We could work with this.

* * *

 **End Rei 8  
**

 _Ah, the Land of Waves... it's kind've funny how Gato has no connection with any of the later villains, which I don't mind. Better than the Land of Waves being all part of Madara's plan or some shit.  
_

 _"What changed to allow Naruto to actually fight in the confrontation of the first two mist nin?" - reebajee_

 _Since Naruto was adopted by Hiruzen, he's a little smarter and more knowledgeable in canon, and has a slightly better sense of social stuff. He's also a little more 'normal' for a ninja (though he's still Naruto at the end of the day). Basically, being adopted makes Naruto more capable (in this particular instance)._

 _Anyway, thanks for the support, everyone!  
_


	13. Rei 9

_Holy shit it's almost been four months since a new update_

 **Begin Rei 9  
**

* * *

So we had a plan.

The first day of guard-duty according to that plan placed me at Tazuna's house. Now I had more time to examine Tazuna's home. While it wasn't exactly a mansion, their home wasn't small. Two stories tall, right next to the ocean, and not one, but two balconies on the roof. This kind of home would've been nice in the first life, but from a ninja's view, that's more entry points than I'd be comfortable with.

The interior decoration wasn't exactly great, but I can't imagine Tazuna has had much time or money to do anything about that. There wasn't much furniture inside, probably due to monetary constraints rather than a desire for a Spartan lifestyle, but what was present looked well-made, I think.

Aside from myself, there was Tsunami and Inari. Inari was curiously quiet - I'd expected him to tell us off almost immediately, but evidently that wasn't going to happen. Was he scoping us out? I suppose I could talk to Tsunami to pass the time, at least until Naruto's shadow clones finish exploring the island. I told Naruto to have his clones meet back here when they finished so that we could make a map. Mind, I don't recall seeing Naruto draw before, but I hope his drawing skills were better than his penmanship.

"Say, Tsunami-san?" I asked.

"Yes, um...?" she replied. Right, I haven't introduced myself.

"Rei," I introduced, before continuing, "Tazuna mentioned that Gato went after his step-son," sadness appeared on Tsunami's face, "I mean, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

"No... I should. Kaiza was a good man and a loving father and husband; he was the bravest man in the Land of Waves. He taught my son so much and inspired the rest of the people. When he crossed Gato though... "

"Gato wanted him gone."

"Yes. His men found Kaiza and... they publicly killed him," she kept on going.

"If it's not too much, how was it that Kaiza defied Gato?"

"Well... it started when Gato's company arrived here. They took over and forced their laws on us, giving us no choice but to obey."

"Tazuna mentioned some of that earlier."

"Well, Kaiza saw Gato's men antagonizing one of the shopkeepers for money and scared them off. When Gato found out his men had been defied, he was furious and... well..."

"I see," I stated. I wasn't sure what else there was to add. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"No, I said I'd tell you. You've helped Tazuna so much already, it's only fair to help out in return," she stated. I sensed Naruto's clones approaching. I guess they'd finished scouting the island.

"Thank you for helping, Tsunami-san," I said. Before Tsunami could respond, a Naruto burst through the door, followed by four more Narutos.

"Hey, you're supposed to knock," said a sixth Naruto who came in after them.

"C'mon, we're already hanging out here, why not just go in?" replied the first Naruto.

"Because its good manners, didn't the old man teach you!" the sixth Naruto fired back.

"Technically we shouldn't call him old man," an entirely different Naruto chimed in. This could get tense.

"Hold your horses Naruto," I interrupted before the argument got out of hand... hmm, that reminds me, there's only one surface large enough to draw a map, isn't there... "I apologize, Tsunami-san, we need to borrow the kitchen table."

"That's fine," Tsunami responded, before leaving the room - I guess the Narutos exhausted her. The Narutos and I gathered around the kitchen table. The empty kitchen table.

"Oh yeah, paper," one of the Narutos said, running to retrieve the paper from his supplies.

Once that was out of the way, we set out to draw a map of the island. Well, it'd be more accurate to say the Narutos did all the work while I sat around, stepping in to make sure they didn't start any fights with each other... themselves? Things get confusing when clones are involved.

"So what do we do about the creepy lair?" one of the Narutos asked.

"Huh?" I replied, stepping over to see the map. Upon the surprisingly well-drawn map was an oddly drawn building which looked like... a drill? This cone drill thing was helpfully labeled 'creepy lair'... if that was Gato's lair, then how did Naruto get close enough? I can't imagine Naruto having the presence concealment to evade Zabuza or Haku... I guess they didn't bother to go after Naruto? That'd make some sense. Whether they did it because they didn't want to expose their positions or because they just didn't care was another question.

I knew the big fight would be on the bridge. Still, knowing where Gato's evil lair was did open options for when the fight was concluded. Could we raid Gato's lair? I doubted that Gato had any more ninja beyond Zabuza, Haku, and the Demon Brothers. Likely, all that'd be left were small-time thugs. Still, it could be troublesome if there are enough of them. Thinking back to the present though... the Naruto clones and I still had some time to kill before Sasuke, the real Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei returned from the bridge. What to do until then? I couldn't exactly spar with Shadow Clones, not when they explode in a single hit. There's not exactly anything we could plan, aside from a potential raid on Gato's lair. Shogi briefly crossed my mind until I remembered I never liked chess - I was always of the opinion that chess has less to do with how smart you are and more to do with how far ahead you can predict, which I know sounds similar but it just isn't. The couple of times I'd tried Shogi (it'd been Shinji's idea), I didn't exactly do well. Hmm... I did bring a pick of cards. Maybe Go Fish? I barely remembered the rules, but it was the only thing I could think of.

... Naruto won. I was surprised Naruto had such a talent for card games. Did Hiruzen train him? A couple more games of Go Fish occurred, with Naruto clones winning every time, it wasn't always the same clone, but I didn't win any of those games. The real Naruto soon came in through the door, followed by Tazuna.

"What's going on?" the real Naruto asked.

"We're playing Go Fish," one of the clones responded. I stood up, putting my cards in a makeshift pile on the table.

"Hey Naruto, how'd things go on the bridge?" I asked, ignoring the slight chaos caused by me leaving the card game.

"It was boring," Naruto replied, which was about what I expected.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Well, one guy quit and had an argument with Tazuna. That was the most exciting thing that happened," Naruto stated. Someone quit?

"Where's Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke?" I asked. They hadn't entered yet.

"They're talking about something, Kakashi-sensei wanted it private for some reason," he responded. What could they be talking about? If it was a discussion that Kakashi wanted to have with only Sasuke, it might be related to the Sharingan... I don't think something like that happened this early, though... Whatever the case, it's probably better to stay out of it, since Kakashi-sensei did want it private.

"What are you doing?" I heard Naruto shout kitchenward. Turning, I noticed that in the maybe 2 minutes I was away, the Naruto clones had somehow thrown all the cards on the floor and, judging by the copious amounts of smoke, gotten into a fight. In the midst of the mess was a single shadow clone hiding under the table for some reason.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"The other clones didn't know how to continue when you left so they argued and then one of them decided to make a new game and he threw all the cards on the floor," he exclaimed. Damnit.

"So after throwing my cards on the ground, the others starting fighting, is that it?" I questioned, attempting to piece this information together in my mind.

"Well, the others first went to beat up the first guy, but then they started fighting each other because we're all wearing the same outfit."

"Right..."

"Ah, nice of my genin to prepare a welcome party," a cool voice added. Hi Kakashi...

Naruto and Sasuke quickly left the house to train further. Kakashi's eyes fell upon the map that the Naruto clones had drew.

"Creepy lair, huh?" he mentioned.

"Yeah, Gato's, I think," I replied, "It's the only place like it on this island. If Gato is as unpopular as he is, he'd want to be away from everyone else."

"How did Naruto get close enough without getting noticed?" Kakashi asked. That... I didn't know. I had theories, but no sure answer.

"Either Naruto's stealthier than I expected, or Zabuza and Haku just don't care. Their loyalty to Gato is probably motivated by money," I continued. Presumably, Zabuza and Haku were only using Gato as a means to an end. Weren't they with the rebellion in Kiri at one point? Even if they weren't, money can always be helpful...

"An interesting assessment," he noted.

* * *

When it came time for dinner, I volunteered to track down Naruto and Sasuke. Of course, they were at the training grounds we'd adopted for tree-climbing. For the life of me I couldn't remember how long it'd taken for Naruto and Sasuke to master tree-climbing. I knew they'd make it work before the battle on the bridge, but aside from that, I wasn't sure.

 _Shang!_

The sound of a kunai cutting wood. Naruto and Sasuke were hard at work, both of them much closer to reaching the top of the tree than before. They were both easily going 20 feet up before being forced off. Sasuke still maintained the same edge as before, but while the distance wasn't any shorter, it was a comparatively smaller advantage.

"Hey guys, time for dinner," I shouted. Regardless of how much they valued training, they'd have to stop and eat. The two of them jumped off the tree at once and walked over to me.

"How?" Naruto asked... eh?

"Huh?" I enunciated.

"The tree," Sasuke helpfully provided. Well...

"Right... I've been doing this for a while... what I did back when I was starting to do this was just focus on climbing the tree. Don't focus on trying to one-up each other, otherwise you'll get distracted."

"That's it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, that's all I can say. Just focus on climbing the tree and keep trying. I don't know what else to say other than good luck. But the two of you need to eat first, c'mon," I said, bringing them back to Tazuna's house.

* * *

Day 2 led to me and Naruto guarding the bridge alongside Kakashi-sensei. This bridge would become a battleground once Zabuza and Haku were done licking their wounds. Until then though, we had to make sure Gato didn't send anyone else to take out Tazuna. I don't think Gato sent anyone to attack before, but who knows what would change here?

Just guarding the bridge though turned out to be incredibly boring. Standing around and pacing could only keep me occupied for so long, so I decided to help out with the construction. I may have only been a ninja for about a month, but I still had relative super strength - I could probably lift as much as most of these men on the bridge, and they were full-grown adults in a career that required heavy lifting. Ah, the wonders of chakra reinforcement...

Naruto got involved as well. For someone who thought D-ranks were glorified chores, he was quick to help out.

With two ninjas helping things along, I guess the bridge got constructed faster than the schedule expected, since Tazuna called the day early. The other workers hadn't asked many questions (though one did have to teach Naruto to lift with his knees, not his back... I guess Naruto hadn't been in the academy for that). Kakashi-sensei had seemed enthused about the two of us helping out (while standing back and reading his book, of course).

"I have to say, kids, you've been super helpful today," Tazuna said.

"Thanks ol-Tazuna!" Naruto replied, stumbling over himself in an attempt to be respectful.

"Hey, I heard that," Tazuna warned.

"No you didn't."

Tazuna sighed.

"Thanks Tazuna," I added.

"You're welcome," he replied.

We soon arrived at Tazuna's home. Tazuna opened the door, we entered, Sasuke walked over, stated he'd be back later, and then abruptly left. Well.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked.

"He's frustrated about something," Kakashi replied. Oh...

Ooooooh. Inari. I didn't think he'd try to tell Sasuke that victory against Gato was impossible. Inari believed that the best way to live was to lie down and hide. To Sasuke, this mindset would be incomprehensible.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Something set him off here while we were gone... why don't you two find out what that it? I'll make sure Sasuke stays out of trouble," Kakashi suggested... well, suggested is the wrong word as it implies we could argue... he left soon after he gave his suggestion. Right, I suspected - no, knew - that Inari was the root of this particular problem.

A quick trip upstairs led me to Inari's room, with his door shut. I knocked on the door.

"W-what?" Inari's voice called out.

"Mind if I come in?" I asked. I didn't receive a response. He didn't I could enter, but he also didn't say no, so I entered, making sure to shut the door behind me. Inari's room was... barren, I guess was the best way to put it. Aside from the essentials, there was hardly anything. Inari was sitting outside on one of the balconies, huddled into something resembling a ball.

"Why?" he asked. I already knew where this would go, but...

"Why what?" I responded. I want to hear it from him.

"Why do you fight? Gato's too strong."

"How so?" I asked.

"Why do you think you can beat him? Gato always gets his way, no matter who dies in the process. Why do you think you'll be different?"

"Well, why wouldn't I fight him? I was hired by your grandpa to protect him. If that means fighting Gato, then of course I'll do it."

"You think that you'll win because the heroes win in stories?" Inari asked in a derisive tone. Well, they did in canon.

"No. I fight because evil wins when good people do nothing," I responded.

"Do you really think that?"

"Yeah. Think about it for a bit, Inari. I think you'll see what I mean eventually."

"Hmm," he responded glumly. I don't think this will work immediately, but maybe it'll get him to think. And that'd be great.

Once I left Inari's room, I found Naruto waiting outside.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Just had a talk with the kid. He needs some time to think."

"Alright. I'm gonna continue training," he stated.

"Good luck," I offered.

* * *

Dinnertime came. It fell to me to find Naruto and Sasuke. Finding Naruto was easy enough - he'd gone to a closer spot to Tazuna's house for his training. Though it wasn't as tall a tree as the ones where Kakashi had had his original demonstration, Naruto was almost to the top of that tree, which was nice. When I'd given the message to Naruto, he'd jumped down immediately. He asked if I needed help with 'the jerk', I'd responded no, and then he'd gone to Tazuna's.

Finding Sasuke was a simple matter - he was at the same spot he'd been training before.

"Hey Sasuke, it's time for dinner," I called out.

 _Shang!_

Sasuke's kunai cut through the tree's bark, marking his descent to the ground. Hardly a moment passed before he continued to climb the tree.

"You should at least eat," I recommended.

 _Shang!_

Sasuke fell once again, only to continue climbing. I'd given Sasuke his message. He should come back for dinner. Hopefully he'd take the opportunity to eat.

* * *

Sasuke didn't come back for dinner. I expected the guy to be late rather than not show up at all. Naruto had just summarized Sasuke's behavior as just Sasuke being a showoff, which had led Kakashi to sigh. I knew that something was still up.

Dinner passed without incident, aside from Sasuke's refusal to show up.

Sasuke wasn't back when we had gone to sleep. One thing the academy had been very blunt about teaching us (at least, to me) was that when you were on a mission, having good food and a consistent sleep schedule would sometimes become a luxury that you didn't always have. IF the mission necessitated five days straight of ration bars and maybe six hours of sleep on a tree branch, that'd have to do. As it was, Tazuna's house was very cozy compared to that. From what had been stressed in the academy, most ninja would look at you like you'd grown a second head if you willingly forgone good food and rest for one reason or another (though as with every rule, this is fraught with exceptions...)

... As it turned out, I didn't sleep as well I wanted. I'd say I woke up at about 5am, but I'd been awake on and off the entire night.

I got out of bed, changed my clothes, put on my shoes, and went to go find Sasuke. Presumably, he'd been out the entire night training - it'd be different from how he'd acted earlier on this mission, but it wouldn't be terribly out of character. The possibility that something had happened to Sasuke crossed my mind. I doubted Haku or Zabuza cared enough to go after Sasuke, but if they did, Sasuke didn't stand a chance. Once I arrived at the impromptu training ground, I saw Sasuke standing,

"Fuck's sake Sasuke, were you out here all night?" I asked, causing him to turn toward me. There were a few moments of awkward silence.

"I had to climb that tree," Sasuke replied. His voice was slightly tired, but he seemed to act hardly any different... there was no way that was why he was out here all night. We begin the short trek back to Tazuna's.

"Okay then, did you succeed?" I asked.

"Yes," came his response. I guess if you're going to spend the night training, then you should at least get something out of that.

"Breakfast is soon. We've got a long day ahead of us, Sasuke," I advised. The schedule had Sasuke and I guarding Tazuna on the bridge.

"Hmm," he replied. Right.

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that..." I said. A hint of _something_ showed itself on his face, before settling back into his usual glower. Something to my left caught my attention for a second before disappearing... someone was out there. That someone had disappeared as soon as I noticed them too... they were good, 'they' probably being one of the two missing-nin we would soon fight.

We arrived back at Tazuna's house soon after. It seemed there was still a bit of time before we had to officially begin our guarding.

* * *

Breakfast was quick, and Kakashi took us to the bridge soon after. Sasuke's face had quickly settled into a tired glower, but just before I went to help out one of the workers, Sasuke interrupted me.

"What did you mean back then, when you mentioned your dream?" Sasuke asked.

"What do you mean?" I replied.

"You said you wanted to save lives. What did you mean?"

Sasuke was curious. That made sense, but why ask now and not earlier? How could I explain to Sasuke the fact that I'd lived a separate life with a full set of morals and standards far different from this one? Obviously I couldn't. But maybe I could try to explain my view to him.

"Well... the academy tried to teach us to view the enemy as just an enemy. Those lessons though... never stuck for me. I know our enemies aren't just faceless foes, they're like us, with their own dreams and hopes and family," I explained.

"So that's how you see it, then. Would that stop you from killing?" Straight to the point, huh Sasuke?

"It'd be my last resort," I admitted after a few moments. I really didn't want to outright kill a dude (well, a few exceptions do exists, but...). Sasuke must've caught my hesitation, but didn't comment, merely 'hmm'ing in response. I guess he wasn't sure how to continue this conversation.

"Why ask, anyway?" I added.

"It didn't made sense to me," he replied.

"Does it make sense now?"

"Not really."

Oh. Well, it was worth a shot.

After the brief discussion between Sasuke and I, the rest of the day on the bridge went by quickly. I started helping the workers with the bridge soon after that conversation concluded. Evidently he didn't want to stand by and watch, since he joined in soon after.

Tazuna ended the day early, remarking that they were ahead of schedule.

As we trekked back toward Tazuna's house, Kakashi mentioned something.

"So Sasuke, now that you've mastered tree-walking, I suppose it's time you take the next step in chakra control."

Apparently, neither me or Sasuke knew how to respond to this, so Kakashi continued, "The next step for a ninja is water-walking. The theory behind this is the same as tree-walking, but the execution will be more difficult. The shifting surface of the water will make it more difficult to stand, and unlike a tree, the water isn't a solid surface. As a result, you'll need to constantly adjust the amount of chakra in your feet to stand on it, otherwise you'll sink."

"Where do I fit into this?" I asked.

"Why, you're going help him learn, of course. I'll show the basics, but Sasuke will have to do this himself to completely learn. Since you know how to do this, you'll be able to help a little."

"Alright," I responded, knowing I had little choice in the matter anyway, but Sasuke was going to need to learn to do this.

* * *

Once we'd dropped Tazuna off, we took another short trek to an oceanside area. As a matter of fact, it was the same place where Kakashi had asked about my own chakra abilities...

"Now, watch closely," Kakashi stated, shifting his chakra to his feet and walking onto the water. He turned around, shrugged, and pulled out his book. I guess it's our turn.

I followed Kakashi's lead onto the ocean, Sasuke mimicking my moves. I stood upon the ocean. Sasuke managed to stand on the water for a bit, before falling into it. Ah, this would take a while.

We didn't get much further in the two hours we spent.

* * *

On day 5, Naruto graduated from tree-climbing and joined the water-walking class.

"Well Naruto, glad to see you could join us," Kakashi said in a half-drawl.

"Of course I came here, believe it! I'll get this in no time!" he shouted.

"Now Naruto, I think we both know it won't be that easy."

"C'mon Kakashi-sensei, how hard could it be?"

"Well Naruto, if it's so easy, then why don't you demonstrate?" Kakashi asked. A trap had been lied out for Naruto.

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto replied, taking the bait. He focused his chakra to his feet and walked onto the water, falling face-first into the sea.

Well, it was a start.

"Bleh, what's with this water anyway?" Naruto complained. Shouldn't he know about salt and fresh water?

"This water is different from the water in Konoha. Since it's the water from the ocean, it actually contains salt. I wouldn't drink it if I were you, Naruto."

Sasuke stepped onto the water's surface and managed to remain afloat for a few seconds, before sinking again. Naruto feel into the sea again, taking as much time this time as the first.

"Ugh, why's this so different from the trees?" Right, Naruto wasn't here for Kakashi-sensei's explanation, so I explained to him the difference between tree-climbing and water-walking, and how much more difficult it would be for a ninja to master water-walking as opposed to tree-climbing, hence why Konoha ninja usually master tree-climbing before attempting water-walking. It was a simple progression, much like how you'd learn basic elemental theory before moving onto the Fireball Jutsu.

This explanation made sense to Naruto, at least.

* * *

Day 7 came. Naruto and Sasuke accompanied Tazuna and Kakashi-sensei to the bridge. It was a pattern we'd settled into by now. I'd try and pass the time by helping Tsunami with her chores (something that, as it turned, both my teammates struggled with...)

"Ninja-san?" a young voice asked. Inari hadn't talked to any of us since I'd talked to him days before. Had my words had any effect on him?

"Inari?" I replied.

"Are you sure you can fight Gato?"

"Of course, it's something I have to do."

"Even if you die?"

"I intend to spend my life saving others. If fighting someone like Gato will accomplish that, then I'll do it."

"Is that a life you can dedicate yourself to?" he asked. I paused, not because I had to think at all about how to answer his question. I knew the future.

What gave me pause was that I sensed two chakra signatures I couldn't identify approaching.

"Inari, troubles coming, get somewhere safe," I warned.

"What?"

"I don't know who's approaching, but they're probably enemies. Hide," I stated. I don't know who was approaching, but Tazuna didn't exactly live in the middle of town. I doubted it was two people just on their way to have a friendly chat. Not with chakra signatures that sizable.

Think Rei, what do you know?

Two chakra signatures, both approximately the same size as each of the Demon Brothers. Since the Land of Waves has no ninja villages, they're likely hired guns. Who else but Gato would have hired guns? Could I take them on? Were I to fight the Demon Brothers on my own, that'd probably be a no. But these weren't the Demon Brothers, so I probably had a chance?

Inari and Tsunami, on the other hand, didn't stand a chance against them.

Where would a ninja enter from? The Balconies were possible, but the new enemies were both remaining ground level. Knowing ninja, the door wasn't a likely entry point... especially since they'd just walked past it. They're circling around.

Tsunami was in the kitchen.

One use of the Body Flicker placed me in the Kitchen.

"Rei, what's going on?" she asked.

"Trouble," was all I said, before jumping onto the ceiling, focusing my chakra into the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands.

Several slices appeared in the wall opposite Tsunami, before a large hole appeared in the wall, revealing two people. The first was a man with long silver hair wearing a light blue sweater, black shorts, and an equally black hat. The other had bushy brown hair and what appeared to be a purple and black kilt (?), while not wearing anything else. And they both had swords. What interesting outfits.

"So you're Tazuna's daughter, huh? Well too bad, you'll have to come with us now," silver guy stated.

"W-what do you want?" Tsunami asked.

"Don't you know? We need a hostage to stop Tazuna," silver guy replied, a grin appearing on his face. Alright, let's take these guys out.

Maximum Spider!

I jump down from the ceiling and slam a kick into the back of shirtless dude's head. Judging from the sound he made when he fell to the ground, he's not getting back up soon.

Silver guy drew his sword - oh that's fast. A quick substitution Jutsu ensures my survival, at the cost of one of Tsunami's dining room chairs. I'll have to pay her back for the chair. Tsunami was as far from silver guy as possible while still being in the kitchen.

"Why you..." he began. I quickly went through several hand signs, releasing a wind fist which knocked him out of Tazuna's house. Surprisingly, he got up.

"Are you willing to surrender?" I asked.

"A couple tricks like that won't win the fight!" he replied. C'mon man. I threw a couple kunai at him, which he easily deflected with his sword. A couple of hand seals and I threw another wind fist... which he dodged. He started charging, running past my stray kunai. Now's my chance. Another substitution placed me behind him, vulnerable to an immediate attack. I directed a kick into the side of his head, sending him tumbling to the ground.

I waited a couple moments before becoming convinced he wasn't getting up.

"Wow, that was so cool!" Inari yelled.

"Thanks," I replied, pulling out a whole bunch of rope. I should tie these guys up before they wake up.

"You were right, heroes do exist. Villains like Gato can be defeated!" he enthusiastically proclaimed as I'd finished tying up silver boy here. Onto the other guy...

Hang on. If these guys came here then that meant-

Well, shit.

* * *

 **End Rei 9**

 _So this chapter is me wanting to get to the Battle on the Bridge already damnit, though knowing me I might go back and alter stuff later on down the line because I'm Like That apparently.  
_

 _So, Battle on the Big Bridge next chapter, I'm gonna try to get that out by the end of the year at least, come hell and highwater. I know, not a great big goal, but it's something._

 _Before I get to reviews... WHO WOULD WIN: EXPENSIVE EYE-GADGET USED BY S-RANK MISSING-NIN IN MYSTERIOUS ORGANIZATION vs. CLOSING YOUR EYES_

 _Memeing aside...  
_

 _"_ _I wonder if Rei will actually end up fighting in the upcoming battle." - Girl-luvs-Manga  
_

 _All I can say to that is SOON™_

 _"_ _I noticed you don't really put any detail or anything into your writing. You seem to just be stating facts on what is happening and not much else. It's a little hard to immerse myself into your story with the lack of detail and such. I'm a little disappointed in regards to that because it also makes it hard to follow along with your story. There are random time skips where the chapter will end in one place and the next chapter will start at a completely different time with no warning whatsoever. I don't really know much about rei at all or what her relationships with her classmates are. Such as when she brings up Sasuke to anko. You never wrote down any interactions between the two so it just seemed kinda random. I would suggest you try adding more details and interactions between the characters. Because to be honest rei doesnt really appear to have any sort of personal she just kinda...exists. Other than those things you story isn't that bad. Your grammar and punctuation are nice and I don't cringe when I'm reading it which is a plus. Some stories I've read I literally could not finish because the grammar and spelling, etc. Is so horrible. Like the work definitely. People will often spell defiantly instead and my eye just kinda twitches lol. Anyways, I hope you don't take any offense to this I'm just trying to help. I look forward to more." - SalvatorChick  
_

 _This is completely fair. At least I'm not at the cringe tier :D. Yeah, I think part of the issue is that I was/I am trying to get to the cool stuff but then the early parts of the story kinda suffer for it. I'm gonna try and make the earliest parts a little better in the future, though I kinda hope to also make up for that with the post-Waves stuff too. Hopfully._

 _Also to the dude who reviewed every chapter, ayyyy_

 _As always, thanks for the support lads and ladies!_


	14. Rei 10

_Land of Waves AKA that one Station of Canon everyone does, but it's such a good arc so that's why everybody does it._

 _This chapter is the end of that arc though, and it honestly feels a little choppier than I'd like, but I wanted to get this out anyway.  
_

 **Begin Rei 10  
**

* * *

Damn it.

Its day seven. The day when Zabuza and Haku attack the bridge. Naruto and Sasuke were on the bridge with _Zabuza and Haku._ Fuck.

Okay, okay, things worked out in canon, sure, but the butterfly effect existed. Could Sasuke still fight Haku in this world? What if Naruto was fighting him instead? Kakashi could fight Zabuza, but it was close before and-

Alright, can I fight Haku? Well... just to be prepared for it... that fight earlier took about a fourth of my chakra, most of that from substituting with a kunai - the mass discrepancy between me and it being problematic. On my own, there's no way could I beat Haku, but with Sasuke or Naruto, that seemed more plausible.

There it is... the bridge... I can't see anything on the damn bridge though, fucking mist. I jump onto the side of the bridge and run along the side it, hoping to find roughly where Haku is - there you are, mate.

I leapt onto the bridge, finding myself face to face with Haku's Crystal Ice Mirrors. Inside is Sasuke, a red glow visible in his eyes.

"Sasuke," I call quietly. He turns.

"Don't get in here, we need to attack from both-," he explains, before being forced to dodge a storm of needles from Haku.

"Sounds like a plan," I reply, moving over to a specific mirror.

"I was wondering where you were," a feminine voice prompted. Crap.

"Sasuke, now!" I shout.

"Fireball jutsu!"

"Air Cutter!"

Our jutsu impact the same mirror at once - it gave a good fight, but-

 _Crash!_

With a crash, the mirror gave out to our dual assault.

"What?!" Haku calls out, watching Sasuke escape his unescapable technique.

"Alright Sasuke, you ready?" I ask.

"We're going to do _that_ , aren't we?" he replied.

"Oh yeah," I replied.

"Don't think it will be so easy," Haku called out.

"Gust of Wind!"

"Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke added, propelling a firestorm into Haku's Crystal Ice Mirrors. The flames created a roar as they exited every gap in the ice mirrors - with the intense heat causing the mirrors to melt - and Haku to escape his ice mirrors, landing to our right.

"How?" he asked.

"Combination techniques," I replied.

"Is that it, then?" he commented, before throwing more needles toward us. No time to dodge, but I can blo- OW. Sasuke dodged perfectly, closing in toward Haku. I moved in from the other side, intending to give Haku zero breathing room. Sasuke sent a strong kick toward Haku's voice, one that Haku blocked with his arm - opening him up for a Wind Fist. Haku prepared to counter-attack but hesitated.

"What's that noise?" Sasuke asked. I heard... birds?

"Your future, Zabuza, is death!" Kakashi shouted in the distance.

"Sasuke," I called, already doing the hand signs for a jutsu.

"Gust of Wind!" we both called out, knocking Haku away from an ice mirror.

"No!" Haku called out.

A lightning strike accompanied by a sound I couldn't identify... no, it was obvious what it was.

"He's dead," Sasuke stated. The mist was beginning to clear, revealing Kakashi's arm elbow deep in Zabuza's torso, a growing puddle of blood surrounding him.

"No..." Haku stated, before pushing us aside.

"Rei, what's he-," Sasuke began.

"Haku, wait..." Zabuza rasped, the effects of a 6-inch hole in his chest making itself clear.

"Zabuza-sama, you'll-"

"Haku, we both know I'm going to die. That's why I've decided to stop lying to myself... and tell you the truth..."

"Th-the truth?"

"You thought you were just... a tool. I kept telling myself that... that's what you were. Now... I'll tell you the truth. For some time... you've been more than a tool, Haku... you were the son I never had..." Zabuza said, punctuated with a cough.

"Zabuza-sama, you really thought that?"

"Yeah... when I said you were just as strong as me... I was telling the truth... now, my last order, Haku... Take my blade. You're as strong as I am... now surpass me."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama, I will," Haku responded, his voice cracking.

"Heh... I can die... with one less regret... now..." Zabuza spoke his final words.

"The son he never had..." Sasuke whispered.

Kakashi pulled his bloodstained arm out of Zabuza's chest and laid his body down.

"It seems even the Demon of the Mist was human," he remarked.

It was then Haku completely broke down.

"Zabuza-sama, why didn't you..." was all I could make out. I moved to talk to him but-

"No, it wouldn't be right," Sasuke said, his hand maintaining a grip on my arm, "not after what we did."

...Oh fuck.

"Hey Haku!" Naruto shouted, prompting the crying ninja to look up, "are you just going to give up now?"

"But, without Zabuza-"

"Zabuza wants you to keep going, he thinks you can become a stronger ninja than him, why else would he trust his sword to you?"

"I..."

"You know him more than anyone else; you should know that he wants you to succeed! There has to be some fond memories of him for you to remember! You can't forget about Zabuza now, he'll keep on living in your heart as long as you keep on living!"

"I... I'm sorry, you're right, Naruto. Zabuza believes- believed in me. I have to live up to those expectations."

"That's the spirit, Haku!"

Thanks Naruto.

"Sasuke, you can let go now," I mention. He wordlessly agreed. Sasuke and I saved Haku... but Zabuza directly died because of it. Will Haku hold that against me? Does Haku even hold grudges? I sighed and walked over to Kakashi-sensei, still surrounded by dogs.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, sorry about the plan kind've exploding," I explained. To that, he sighed... Kakashi-sensei looked like he'd been through hell - Jesus Christ is that a hole in his hand?!

"Don't worry, it'll heal," Kakashi-sensei mentioned. Must've caught me staring at the _hole in his hand_. Goddamn.

"'ey boss, we've got company," Kakashi's pug pointed out.

"And here I thought missing-nin were supposed to be tough. Fat lot of good he did," Gato gloated. God, what a prick.

"Gato," Haku said and oh, that's actual malice in his voice.

"Change of plans, you and Zabuza die now," he declared, chuckling, "of course, it seems most of my work is already done, so all that's left is you. Besides, you nearly broke my arm back then, so I'll make sure to pay you back!"

"Are you sure about that?" Haku replied, projecting his anger toward Gato's thugs, who were instantly demoralized by this.

"Come on, it's one against fifty, it can't be that tough!"

"Haku," Kakashi-sensei started, "since your previous client is now our enemy, this gives us a common enemy."

"Indeed it does," Haku responded.

So, we have Kakashi, Haku, me and my teammates, and all of Kakashi's dogs. Gato would have to be-

"W-well, this is-," Gato began, but was interrupted by a senbon needle to the neck. The businessman fell over, apparently dead.

Well that was anti-climactic. There was a lot of murmuring among the mercenaries, but then they seemed to reach some sort of consensus.

"If Gato's dead, then we're not getting paid," one thug blurted out.

"Hey, there's all those ninja there, you saw what happened...," another replied.

"Gato promised us all that money, if he ain't gonna pay us now, we should just steal it from him!"

"Yeah!"

With that, the mercenaries retreated, apparently to loot Gato's lair.

"We did it guys!" Naruto proclaimed.

"Quiet down Naruto," Sasuke replied, his voice sounding like he'd eaten sandpaper.

"Sasuke, what's with your voice?" Naruto asked. I can explain.

"It's a side-effect of wind-style techniques," I explained, "without chakra protection; it can hurt your throat."

"The same as a fire jutsu then," Sasuke interjected.

"Similar more likely, the specifics are probably different," I replied. Sasuke's sharingan would've only caught the Gust of Wind I did earlier. The chakra protection for my throat isn't part of the jutsu and wouldn't have been copied. Technically, it's not even a jutsu at all, just chakra control - but that's another topic. Sasuke must've had some sort of equivalent exercise for fire jutsu, but obviously it's not the same as with wind jutsu.

"Hey Rei, we're here!" Inari called out. He'd arrived with a whole mob of people, armed with a variety of weapons, including pitchforks, mining picks, shovels, and at least one guy with a pair of nunchuks.

"Alright my genin, why don't you take Tazuna home," Kakashi suggested.

Zabuza's funeral was a quick affair. He hadn't gotten much more than a hole in the ground with a roughly made cross (and where had THAT symbol come from?) to denote his grave. Haku had talked at length about how Zabuza had taken him in when there was no one else for him.

"Zabuza said that ninja were just tools Kakashi-sensei, is that true?" Naruto asked, to which Kakashi had just sighed.

"A shinobi isn't supposed to pursue his own ideals. They're merely tools of their country. Even in the Leaf Village it's the same way,"

"If it's like that then something's wrong," Naruto declared.

"You believe it too?" Sasuke asked.

"Every ninja has to live with that issue. It's a question without an answer, one we have to deal with all our lives."

Naruto hmmed, before giving his proclamation, "Alright, I'll create my own ninja way, one where I don't have to live with regrets!"

"I hope you find that path, Naruto," Haku stated then.

Kakashi gave a customary eye-smile. I knew Naruto would create that ninja way, and I knew that a peaceful world was possible. Hopefully Naruto would succeed.

The following day, Kakashi told us that he'd handle guarding the bridge on his own, leaving us to our own devices. Naturally, this lead to us sparring with each other.

"Alright Sasuke, you ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

We settled into our stances - him in the Uchiha stance, mine in something resembling the academy standard. He charged forward, aiming a kick toward the side of my face. I raised my left arm, blocking his kick. He raised his fist, forcing me to duck under his attack.

With one arm blocking his leg, I used my other arm to force his leg away, giving myself some breathing room. I prepared a Wind Fist, throwing it Sasuke's direction.

Of course he dodged it. I knew he'd do that. Right or left...

Right!

I blocked his fist, grabbing hold of it in my hand. His body then twisted, lifting off the ground to go for an overhead attack with his leg. I let go of his fist and rolled out of the way, going for a sweeping kick once he'd landed and - a log.

Well he's acting more defensive than usual...

"Fireball jutsu!" I heard, a few moments earlier than Sasuke had expected. I jumped completely out of the way, but the fact that I saw his eyes looking my direction when I landed...

"Wind style: Wind Fist!" he called out. Oh that'll -

10 feet later, that hurts. What's the feeling? Oh, right, Salt.

My left - "Air Cutter!" I call out, putting Sasuke back on the defensive. Jeez, I'm running out of options.

I continue my assault with a kick toward the stomach - one that Sasuke easily dodges. I see a flicker of red and then-

"Checkmate," Sasuke's voice declares, an arm around my chest.

"You got me," I sighed. Sasuke let go.

"You've gotten better."

"Have I?" I asked, before turning around. Red eyes. Well, maybe I have.

"That last jutsu of yours was a close call."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I stated, before realizing something, "guess you got that problem out of the way with wind jutsu."

"Of course."

"I'm not sure how to feel about the fact I got bludgeoned with my own jutsu earlier," I muttered.

"An interesting feeling, isn't it?" I heard Haku state. He must've noticed how I froze, "my apologies, you're still uncomfortable around me, aren't you? I apologize for what happened on the bridge, I wish we could have concluded things more peacefully."

"Yeah," was all I could respond with.

"What are you doing here, though?" Sasuke asked.

"I'll be going to Konoha," Haku delivered, "I don't know what to do with my life now, but Konoha might give me the answers I seek."

"I see," I answered, "you're not mad at us, are you?"

"No... you did what you thought was right then... I don't believe Zabuza-sama would want me to seek revenge, not after entrusting me with his will."

"Right," I said. I should say more, but words are failing me.

"I should get going, Kakashi-san will likely wish to speak with me," he said, disappearing just as fast as he had arrived.

"Hey Sasuke!" I heard Naruto shout, "Let's spar!"

"Fine...," Sasuke replied.

It wasn't a long spar. Not as long as my own had been, but Naruto was getting better. He was getting smarter with his techniques and jutsu use, with much help (and consternation) from Kakashi-sensei, and his Shadow Clones gave him a large edge over Sasuke.

I have to convince Naruto to teach me that at some point.

After Sasuke had beaten Naruto, it was my turn.

We settled into our poses, my derivative of the academy standard against Naruto's mangling of such. Once again, I waited for Naruto to make the first move, and like Sasuke, he charged forward. His first attack was predictable - I dodged to the right, leaving Naruto unable to compensate. A sweeping kick was all it took to... burst his shadow clone.

When had he-?

A distant shouting filled my ears. I turned around and suddenly there were roughly 20 Narutos charging at me. Smart.

While they were charging at me, I could pick them off one by one.

"Wind style: Wind Fist!" I called, striking one of Naruto's clones. I had time to fire four more before the Narutos were too close. Now we were getting dangerous.

The Narutos were all bad at Taijutsu, but the fact there were 15 of him was a hell of a way to make up for that. At the very least, I wasn't surrounded. Each time the Narutos got too close for comfort, I could fall back and give myself a bit of distance. Unfortunately, they caught on by the time there were eight of them left.

Hmm... maybe I could go up?

I pushed my chakra to my legs and jumped into the air, throwing a Wind Fist into the ground, popping three Narutos at once.

...I didn't think about this beyond 'go into the air'. I landed a little aways from where I had launched from and found myself surrounded by Narutos.

"Well, I surrender," I said.

"Huh?" Naruto wondered.

"There's no way I'd be able to fight my way against five of you," I stated, "besides, you're getting pretty good at this."

"I still can't beat Sasuke though."

"He's just that good," I mentioned, "it annoys me too, but he can't be on top forever."

"I can hear you," Sasuke interjected.

"I know."

The last three days of the mission were spent guarding the bridge. Kakashi-sensei had decided that with Zabuza gone and Gato dealt with, we could take things easy. Thus, for the last three days of the mission, we had put a hold on training for water-walking.

Of course, this wasn't a complete break from training. We still kept up a normal training, but Kakashi-sensei must've decided to reward us with a break from water-walking (while noting that that would be finished when we returned to Konoha).

"We could never have finished the bridge without you," Tazuna said, "I can't tell you how much we're going to miss you."

"Be careful," Tsunami added.

"Thank you for everything," Kakashi-sensei responded. Without Tazuna and Tsunami's hospitality, we'd never have gotten anywhere.

"Hey, don't get all choked up, we'll come back and visit real soon!" Naruto added with a smile.

"R-really?" Inari asked.

"Yeah, we'll be back, believe it!"

"Trust us kid, we'll be back," I said, offering a wave as my team began to walk away.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what's going to happen with Haku?" Naruto asked.

"I sent a shadow clone to report about the situation, they'll know ahead of time," Sensei responded.

"Alright!"

"Hold on Naruto, that doesn't mean Haku's guaranteed a place in Konoha, it just means the Hokage is aware of the situation."

"Oh, right," Naruto responded, his hands behind his head.

"Hey guys," I suggested, "I don't think I've introduced you guys to Shinji, have I?"

"Shinji?" Naruto asked. Sasuke's head turned toward us a little.

"My second-cousin, he's a pretty cool guy. I think he'll like you guys."

"Alright!"

"Well, if my genin are going, I might as well come along," Kakashi-sensei added. Well... that'll probably work out actually; I imagine Kakashi-sensei and Shinji would get along.

Actually, what about Anko? I think Kakashi and Anko got along in canon? I don't remember them not getting along; though for all I know they never interacted.

Oh well, Kakashi's a pretty understanding guy, so I'm sure things will go well.

* * *

 **End Rei 10**

 _RIP Zabuza-sama. Zabuza and Haku are such good characters with lots of potential, it's almost a shame they're beginning arc villains. At least fanfics involving the two of them surviving are fairly common.  
_

 _So, there we have it, Land of Waves is over. So, unlike the manga, where Zabuza and Haku's funerals were held 2 weeks after they died, here Zabuza's funeral happens on the same day. Without Naruto's Kyuubi surge, the bridge has a fair bit less damage, leading to Team 7 coming home earlier than in canon._

 _So, fun little thing of world lore that was never expanded on: Zabuza and Haku both have crosses for their graves. Cross grave markers are a very particularly Christian thing, so does Christianity exist in Naruto? If so, what does the fact that ninja can casually cross water_ mean? _I know 'Jesus was a ninja' was a Naruto Abridged Series joke, but that might be an actual theory in-universe._

 _Well, it would be if the Sage wasn't already established as essentially ninja Jesus, so..._

 _Actually, religion as a whole is barely expanded upon, and doesn't really have a good showing in Naruto. There's the monks, who have what appears to be a Shaolin Monastery, along with mostly unspecified beliefs. And of course, there's Hidan, who worships Jashinism, which is a literal death cult with very few apparent worshippers. Presumably they all died trying to do Hidan's techniques or something._

 _Anyway, the next arc? Not the Chunin exams. While the anime seems to imply they came right after Land of Waves, that can't be the case, especially since Cat Fortress was retroactively put in that gap. The Manga just shows that there was some sort of timespan between the two arcs. Seelentau's Naruto Timeline (probably my favorite attempt to piece everything together) places a little less than three months between Land of Waves and Chunin Exams, so that's how I'm going about it. Of course, even before looking at that timeline, I'd already planned to put some stuff in between the two arcs._

 _Anyway, next chapter is a shift to a different POV because it's been a while since I did one of those._


End file.
